Skyhook-based Body-seat System Preview Control for a Semi-active Suspension Tractor

This paper intends to present a method to improve riding comfort of tractor while working. The primary objective is to reduce vibration of the seat in tractor cabin caused by road input, i.e. the performance of tractor suspension. For this purpose, a full-vehicle tractor model was built with wheel and suspension, which includes seven degrees of freedom. Simplified model for seat is put on the tractor model. Then preview control with time-delay consideration was investigated by installing look-ahead sensor on front wheel. On this basis, a semi-active suspension using sky-hook based preview controller is studied. The comfort evaluation parameters about the driver are presented and the mathematical models of passive and sky-hook based preview control suspension are simulated in Simulink. The comparison of the results of passive suspension and sky-hook based preview control suspension suggests that semi-active controller could significantly improve riding comfort and provide more comfortable working conditions for operators, which can be widely applied on tractor in the future. Copyright © 2014 IFSA Publishing, S. L.