Ride performance optimization in an active suspension system

US9738132B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Ford Global Technologies, LLC · US

Inventors

• Russ Lee Norton · Brownstown Township, US
• Benjamin Bulat · Plymouth, US
• William Gregory Suter · Farmington Hills, US
• Albert Salib · Troy, US
• David Michael Russell · Ann Arbor, US
• Uwe Hoffmann · Leverkusen, DE
• Marc Suermann · Duisburg, DE
• Darrell Erick Butler · Chesterfield Township, US
• Louis Joseph Jamail · Farmington Hills, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 30, 2015
• Grant date: Aug 22, 2017
• Expiry date: Oct 30, 2035

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B60G2800/912
• WIPO field: Transport
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

An active vehicle suspension system includes an active damping mechanism operatively coupled to a vehicle wheel and configured for controlling a damping force applied to the wheel responsive to a control signal. A controller is operatively coupled to the damping mechanism and configured for generating a control signal to the damping mechanism responsive to velocity of the wheel in a downward vertical direction. At least one of a timer threshold and velocity threshold, used to determine whether a vehicle wheel has encountered a depression in a road surface, may be varied on a basis of a speed of the vehicle. A damping mechanism for a rear wheel of a vehicle may be controlled on a basis of how a damping mechanism for a front wheel is controlled.