A semi-active suspension design for off-road vehicle base on Magneto-rheological technology

In this paper, a Magneto-Rheological (MR) fluid semi-active suspension system was tested on a off-road vehicle to determine the performance improvements compared to passive suspensions. In the process of suspension design, ride comfort and handing stability are two conflicting considerations. MR fluid dampers are a new class of devices that more suitable for the requirements of automotive applications, including having very low power requirements. According to different driving conditions and body posture, semi-active suspension based on MR damper can coordinate the body posture angle, and reduce the vibration from suspension pass to vehicle body. This paper deals with theoretical analysis and experiments of MR fluid damper in semi-active suspension system. For the purpose of developing semi-active controller, a detailed vehicle Virtual Prototyping model with steering, frame and semi-active suspensions systems was established by vehicle dynamics simulation software SIMPACK. The co-simulation of ride comfort and handing stability showed that the semi-active suspension designed in this paper was suitable for improving the ride and handing performance simultaneously.