Design and Experimental Assessment of a Vibration Control System Driven by Low Inertia Hydrostatic Magnetorheological Actuators for Heavy Equipment

Abstract

Active suspension systems for automotive vehicles were developed in the past using hydrostatic, electric, magnetic and magnetorheological (MR) technologies to control road vibrations and vehicle dynamics and thus improve ride comfort and vehicle performance. However, no such systems were developed for heavy equipment, trucks and off-highway vehicles. For instance, agricultural tractors are still equipped with minimal suspension systems causing discomfort and health problems to drivers. The high suspension loads due to the massive weight of these vehicles are a challenge since high forces are needed to achieve efficient active suspension control. This paper presents an experimentally validated feasibility study of a hydrostatic, MR clutch-driven system of actuators. The scope of this paper is to evaluate the preliminary performance of the actuator for future vibration control. The hydraulic system allows the actuators to be remotely located from the wheels or cabin of the heavy vehicle and conveniently placed on the vehicle’s suspended frame. The design includes two MR clutches driven in an antagonistic configuration to push and pull on the end effector. Experiments on a laboratory prototype show that the low-inertia characteristics of the clutches allow a high blocked-output force bandwidth of 20 Hz with peak output forces exceeding 15 kN.