Development of an electronically controlled pneumatic suspension for commercial vehicles

The suspension system plays a critical role in the dynamics of an automobile and active force actuators in the suspension can result in improved dynamics, be it ride comfort, better road holding or reduced body roll. In this paper, a control scheme has been developed for an electronically controlled pneumatic actuator that can be used in suspensions of commercial vehicles such as trucks, tractors-trailers and buses. The performance of the suspension system with regards to different inputs is simulated using the quarter car model and the half car model. The required active actuation force data obtained from the simulations are fed to the control scheme which then regulates the pressure of air in the actuator chamber according to the desired force/pressure. This has been implemented on an experimental setup and the performance of the control scheme has been studied for various desired force/pressure profiles.