Vehicle simulation for the development of an active suspension system for an agricultural tractor

The design of suspension systems for heavy-duty vehicles covers a specific field of automotive industry. The proposed work focuses on the design development of a front controllable suspension for an agricultural tractor capable to satisfy the system requirements under different operating conditions. The design of the control algorithms is based on the developed multibody model of the actual tractor, including the pitch motion of the sprung mass, the anti-dive effects during braking and forward-reverse maneuvers and the non-linear dynamics of the actuation system. For an advanced analysis, a novel thermo-hydraulic model of the hydraulic system has been implemented. Several semi-active damping controls are analyzed for the specific case study. Therefore, the most promising damping strategy is integrated with other control functions, namely a self-leveling control, an original control algorithm for the reduction of the pitch motion, an anti-impact system for the hydraulic actuator and an on-line adaptation scheme, which preserves an optimal damping ratio of the suspension, even against large variations in operating conditions.

[1]  R. A. Williams.  Automotive Active Suspensions , 1992 .

[2]  Dean Karnopp,et al.  Vibration Control Using Semi-Active Force Generators , 1974 .

[3]  David J. Cole,et al.  Fundamental Issues in Suspension Design for Heavy Road Vehicles , 2001 .

[4]  Sergio M. Savaresi,et al.  Acceleration-Driven-Damper (ADD): An Optimal Control Algorithm For Comfort-Oriented Semiactive Suspensions , 2005 .

[5]  Mehdi Ahmadian,et al.  A Hybrid Control Policy for Semi-Active Vehicle Suspensions , 2003 .

[6]  R. Oboe,et al.  Modelling, control and design of heavy duty suspension systems , 2008, 2008 10th IEEE International Workshop on Advanced Motion Control.

[7]  Cristiano Spelta,et al.  Mixed Sky-Hook and ADD: Approaching the Filtering Limits of a Semi-Active Suspension , 2007 .

[8]  Keum-Shik Hong,et al.  Modified Skyhook Control of Semi-Active Suspensions: A New Model, Gain Scheduling, and Hardware-in-the-Loop Tuning , 2002 .

[9]  O. B. Ahmed,et al.  Predicting the ride vibration of an agricultural tractor , 1997 .

[10]  Massimiliano Gobbi,et al.  Farm tractor models for research and development purposes , 2007 .

[11]  Jeong-Hoi Koo,et al.  In Search of Suitable Control Methods for Semi-Active Tuned Vibration Absorbers , 2004 .

[12]  David J. Cole,et al.  Force Control of a Semi-Active Damper , 1995 .

[13]  David J. Cole,et al.  Performance of a semi-active damper for heavy vehicles , 2000 .

[14]  David Cebon,et al.  FORCE CONTROL OF A SEMIACTIVE DAMPER , 1995 .