A semi-active control policy to reduce the occurrence and severity of end-stop impacts in a suspension seat with an electrorheological fluid damper

Wu, Xuting and Griffin, M. J. (1997) A semi-active control policy to reduce the occurrence and severity of end-stop impacts in a suspension seat with an electrorheological fluid damper. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 203 (5), 781-793. (doi:10.1006/jsvi.1996.0901).

Record type: Article

Abstract

A semi-active on-off control policy has been developed to reduce the severity of suspension seat end-stop impacts caused by shocks or high magnitude vibration. An electrorheological fluid damper was used to realize the required two-state damping. The effects of the free travel (i.e., the relative displacement within which the suspension damper has low damping) and the on-state damping on end-stop impacts were investigated with a sinusoidal input motion. It was found that both a shorter free travel and higher on-state damping reduced both the occurrence of end-stop impacts and their severity. The control policy was also tested with a random signal at different input magnitudes. The on-off control policy improved the performance of the seat suspension when end-stop impacts would otherwise occur with high magnitude inputs, without causing poor vibration isolation with low magnitude inputs. It is concluded that a successful compromise can be achieved between steady vibration isolation and end-stop impact reduction.

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