Robust active suspension controller achieving good ride comfort

In this paper, a new active suspension control scheme is developed so that ride comfort at any specified location becomes best. To achieve this end, two ideal vehicles are designed so that ride comfort becomes best at each different location. Then, linearly combining the two ideal vehicles, a combined ideal vehicle is constructed. It should be noted that by using only one design parameter, we can easily make ride comfort at a specified location become best in the combined ideal vehicle. To achieve the good property stated above in real vehicles, a robust tracking controller is proposed. It is shown by numerical simulations that ride comfort at a specified location can be easily improved in the closed loop system using the combined ideal vehicle and robustness for front and rear suspension stiffness, damping rate and tire spring stiffness is confirmed.