Development of a 4-point-Air Cab Suspension System for Conventional Heavy Trucks

Driver retention poses a significant challenge to the trucking industry. Calls for improved driver comfort and more advanced cab suspensions have led to revolutionary new ideas in the development of secondary suspension systems.

European trucks have long benefited from true air-ride systems with air-springs and shocks on all four corners. Conceptually such 4-Point-Air Cab Suspensions also offers significant potential for ride improvement of conventional heavy trucks. Secondary benefits include potentially improved crash safety performance and reduced dynamic forces at the cab mounting points.

Existing cab suspension concepts for conventional trucks transmit a blend of frequencies and accelerations through to the drivers position. Whilst rear mounted air-springs provide good isolation to all but low excitation frequencies, the front rubber mounts still transmit the harsher high frequencies.

This paper presents a new design concept for a “4-poin-Air Cab Suspension” on a conventional truck. Simulation results are provided to quantify the advantages of this new concept relative to current systems.