Analytical description of ride comfort and optimal damping of cushion-suspension for wheel-drive electric vehicles

To provide initial design values of seat cushion and chassis suspension damping for wheel-drive electric vehicles (WDEVs), this paper presents an analytical estimation method and a practical damping parameters design method. Firstly, two formulae of the human body vertical acceleration in terms of the power spectrum density (PSD) and the root mean square (RMS) are deduced for WDEVs. Then, the coupling effects of the key vehicle parameters on ride comfort are revealed. Finally, with a practical example, the damping parameters of the cushion and the suspension are initially designed and analyzed. The results show that when every 10.0 kg increases for motor mass, the optimal damping values of the cushion and the suspension should be reduced by about 15.0 Ns/m and 50.0 Ns/m, respectively. However, the RMS acceleration increases 0.017 m/s2 with a decrease of 2.5 % for ride comfort.