Design of a hybrid electromagnetic/hydraulic damper for automotive suspension systems

Vehicle suspension systems have been extensively explored in the past decades, contributing to ride comfort, handling and safety improvements. The new generation of power-train and propulsion systems, as a new trend in modern vehicles, poses significant challenges to suspension system design. Consequently, novel suspension concepts are required, not only to improve the vehicle´s dynamic performance, but also to enhance the fuel economy by utilizing regeneration functions. However, the development of new-generation suspension systems necessitates advanced suspension components, such as springs and dampers. This paper presents the concept, design, and modeling of a novel hybrid electromagnetic/hydraulic damper for automotive suspension applications. This study indicates that the coupling of active/passive systems benefits the power consumption issue in active systems, while saving cost and weight. A potential hybrid damper design is proposed, where hydraulic damping effect is employed as a source of passive damping. The active part of the damper is designed to satisfy the required active force. The designed damper is analyzed under the steady-state conditions to determine the correlation between the passive damper performance and design parameters. It is demonstrated that a passive damping of ~1700 Ns/m can be achieved, by the addition of the viscous fluid to the active damper, which guaranties a failsafe damper in case of power failure.