Robust Active Force Controller for an Automotive Brake System

The paper presents a robust feedback control method to suppress the vibration and squeal noise phenomenon in disc brake model using an active force control (AFC) strategy. A two degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) Wagner model was considered in the study as the main dynamical element to be controlled. The system was tested for robustness and effectiveness in reducing the vibration and squeal, taking into account a number of disturbances acting on the system. Three control schemes were simulated and compared involving the classic proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller, AFC with crude approximation (AFCCA) and AFC with fuzzy logic (AFCFL) schemes. The AFC-based schemes show superior performance compared to the PID only counterpart with the AFCFL method producing the best performance.