An analytical design approach for self-powered active lateral secondary suspensions for railway vehicles

In this paper, an analytical design approach for the development of self-powered active suspensions is investigated and is applied to optimise the control system design for an active lateral secondary suspension for railway vehicles. The conditions for energy balance are analysed and the relationship between the ride quality improvement and energy consumption is discussed in detail. The modal skyhook control is applied to analyse the energy consumption of this suspension by separating its dynamics into the lateral and yaw modes, and based on a simplified model, the average power consumption of actuators is computed in frequency domain by using the power spectral density of lateral alignment of track irregularities. Then the impact of control gains and actuators’ key parameters on the performance for both vibration suppressing and energy recovery/storage is analysed. Computer simulation is used to verify the obtained energy balance condition and to demonstrate that the improved ride comfort is achieved by this self-powered active suspension without any external power supply.

[1]  Yoshihiro Suda,et al.  Hybrid Suspension System with Skyhook Control and Energy Regeneration (Development of Self-Powered Active Suspension) , 1998 .

[2]  Yoshihiro Suda,et al.  Modeling of Electromagnetic Damper for Automobile Suspension , 2007 .

[3]  Sebastian Stichel,et al.  Active lateral secondary suspension with H ∞ control to improve ride comfort: simulations on a full-scale model , 2011 .

[4]  Shouhu Xuan,et al.  Semi-active H∞ control of high-speed railway vehicle suspension with magnetorheological dampers , 2013 .

[5]  Lei Zuo,et al.  Electromagnetic Energy-Harvesting Shock Absorbers: Design, Modeling, and Road Tests , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

[6]  T. X. Mei,et al.  Towards self-powered lateral active suspension for railway vehicles , 2014, 2014 UKACC International Conference on Control (CONTROL).

[7]  Yoshihiro Suda,et al.  Self-Powered Active Vibration Control Using Continuous Control Input , 2000 .

[8]  Yoshihiro Suda,et al.  A New Hybrid Suspension System with Active Control and Energy Regeneration , 1996 .

[9]  Zhang Ke-yue.  Robust control of lateral self-powered active suspension for railway vehicle , 2011 .

[10]  Roger M. Goodall,et al.  Active suspension control of flexible-bodied railway vehicles using electro-hydraulic and electro-magnetic actuators , 2000 .

[11]  Roger M. Goodall,et al.  Control and monitoring for railway vehicle dynamics , 2007 .

[12]  Andrzej Kot,et al.  Energy Recovering in Active Vibration Isolation System — Results of Experimental Research , 2008 .

[13]  R. A. Williams,et al.  Control of a low frequency active suspension , 1994 .

[14]  Roger M. Goodall,et al.  ACTIVE RAILWAY SUSPENSIONS: IMPLEMENTATION STATUS AND TECHNOLOGICAL TRENDS. , 1997 .

[15]  Ben Zion Bobrovsky,et al.  Actively controlled vehicle suspension with energy regeneration capabilities , 2011 .

[16]  Yoshihiro Suda,et al.  STUDY ON ELECTROMAGNETIC DAMPER FOR AUTOMOBILES WITH NONLINEAR DAMPING FORCE CHARACTERISTICS , 2004 .

[17]  Yoshihiro Suda,et al.  Self-Powered Active Vibration Control with Continuous Control Input. , 1999 .