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Hierarchical control of ride height system for electronically controlled air suspension based on variable structure and fuzzy control theory

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Abstract

The current research of air suspension mainly focuses on the characteristics and design of the air spring. In fact, electronically controlled air suspension (ECAS) has excellent performance in flexible height adjustment during different driving conditions. However, the nonlinearity of the ride height adjusting system and the uneven distribution of payload affect the control accuracy of ride height and the body attitude. Firstly, the three-point measurement system of three height sensors is used to establish the mathematical model of the ride height adjusting system. The decentralized control of ride height and the centralized control of body attitude are presented to design the ride height control system for ECAS. The exact feedback linearization method is adopted for the nonlinear mathematical model of the ride height system. Secondly, according to the hierarchical control theory, the variable structure control (VSC) technique is used to design a controller that is able to adjust the ride height for the quarter-vehicle anywhere, and each quarter-vehicle height control system is independent. Meanwhile, the three-point height signals obtained by three height sensors are tracked to calculate the body pitch and roll attitude over time, and then by calculating the deviation of pitch and roll and its rates, the height control correction is reassigned based on the fuzzy algorithm. Finally, to verify the effectiveness and performance of the proposed combined control strategy, a validating test of ride height control system with and without road disturbance is carried out. Testing results show that the height adjusting time of both lifting and lowering is over 5 s, and the pitch angle and the roll angle of body attitude are less than 0.15°. This research proposes a hierarchical control method that can guarantee the attitude stability, as well as satisfy the ride height tracking system.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China

    Xing Xu, Kongkang Zhou & Nannan Zou

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China

    Hong Jiang

  3. School of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Technology, Hengyang, 412002, China

    Xiaoli Cui

Authors
  1. Xing Xu
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  2. Kongkang Zhou
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  3. Nannan Zou
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  4. Hong Jiang
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  5. Xiaoli Cui
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xing Xu.

Additional information

Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51105177), Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. BK20131255), Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. 20113227120015), Qing Lan Project of Jiangsu Province of China, Scientific Research Foundation for Advanced Talents, Jiangsu University, China (Grant No. 11JDG047), and Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12JJ6036)

XU Xing, born in 1979, is currently a lecturer and a master candidate supervisor at School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering, Jiangsu University, China. He received his PhD degree from Jiangsu University, China, in 2010. His research interests include vehicle system dynamics and control.

ZHOU Kongkang, born in 1938, is currently a professor and a PhD candidate supervisor at School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering, Jiangsu University China. He received his master degree from Jiangsu University, China, in 1980. His research interests include vehicle dynamic performance simulation and control.

ZOU Nannan, born in 1990, is currently a master candidate at School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering, Jiangsu University China. His research interests include vehicle system modeling and fault-tolerant control.

JIANG Hong, born in 1963, is currently a professor and a master candidate supervisor at School of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangsu University, China. She received her master degree from Jiangsu University, China, in 1992. Her research interests include vehicle dynamics simulation and system design.

CUI Xiaoli, born in 1962, is currently a professor at School of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Technology, China. She received her PhD degree from Zhongnan University, China, in 2011. Her research interests include vehicle CAE and integration.

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Xu, X., Zhou, K., Zou, N. et al. Hierarchical control of ride height system for electronically controlled air suspension based on variable structure and fuzzy control theory. Chin. J. Mech. Eng. 28, 945–953 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2015.0615.081

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2015.0615.081

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