Cooperative Control of Interconnected Air Suspension Based on Model Predictive Control

Abstract

The suspension system is a significant part of a vehicle because it transmits the torque and force between the wheels and the frame, meeting the requirements of ride comfort. In this paper, a novel interconnected air suspension was introduced and a cooperative control between interconnected mode activation (IMA) and outsourced mode activation (OMA) was designed. To improve ride comfort in a bus at a minimal energy consumption, this cooperative control based on model predictive control (MPC) for computing the best force and the rule was defined to distribute the best suspension force generated by IMA and OMA. The simulation and experimental results showed that the proposed control strategy significantly improved ride comfort in different conditions. Compared with traditional control in the test vehicle, the RMS of the front-left sprung mass and unsprung vertical acceleration decreased by 24.2% and 14.5%, respectively, under a straight condition; the RMS of the sprung (unsprung) mass vertical acceleration reduced by 22.38% and 15.43%, respectively, under a bump condition.