Height control strategy employing AWPSO-fuzzy PID control for electronically controlled air suspension system

Abstract

Electronically controlled air suspension (ECAS) system has been extensively applied in vehicles to increase driving comfort, fuel economy, and operation safety. However, due to the nonlinear and hysteresis characteristics of the ECAS system, accurately controlling suspension height remains challenging. To tackle this problem, a bench test is conducted on the air spring and solenoid valve to establish their mathematical model for their characteristics. Based on this, a mathematical model of the ECAS system is developed by integrating suspension kinematics and dynamics theories. Then, a height control strategy is devised utilizing a fuzzy proportional-integral-derivative (PID) algorithm, enabling precise control of the vehicle’s body height. Based on this, an adaptive weight particle swarm optimization (AWPSO) algorithm is utilized to optimize the output range of the fuzzy controller. The effectiveness of the proposed model and control strategy is validated through both simulation tests and real-vehicle testing under both no-load and full-load conditions. These tests confirm the proposed approach’s effectiveness in achieving precise suspension height control in ECAS systems.