Electrorheological Damper and Its Application for Semi-Active Suspension System

A semi-active control of vehicle suspension system with electrorheological (ER) damper is presented. ER fluid characteristics are introduced based on the Bingham plasticity model first. Then ER damper working force is given. Finally a quarter car model with ER damper is constructed. The skyhook control strategy is adopted to simulate the amplitude-frequency characteristics and the vibration of suspension system under random road excitation on the basis of ER damper characteristics. The response curves of the vertical acceleration, the suspension dynamic working space and the tyre dynamic loading are obtained. Simulation results show that the acceleration is reduced effectively and then the ride comfort is improved by the skyhook control law.