Electronically controlled suspensions are expected to improve driving performance as the damping characteristics of the suspension can be adjusted in real time to respond to road conditions. This paper reports the results of testing the suspension control logic for improving ride quality, especially when driving on rough roads, using an internally developed riding simulator.
The skyhook theory is widely known as a control logic for reducing vibration when driving a four-wheeled vehicle on a rough road, which we utilized in our riding simulator to examine the vibration reduction effects when applying control logic for motorcycle suspensions. The test results show that the skyhook theory can be applied in motorcycles.
However, sensors for suspension systems that can be installed in mass-produced motorcycles are severely limited in terms of cost and space. Therefore, we examined a control logic based on skyhook theory that can reduce vibration even with a simple and inexpensive sensor system.
A novel control logic was successfully designed that implements the relationship between the suspension stroke speed and the vertical acceleration of the sprung mass from the dynamics of the vehicle body when driving on rough roads. This control logic was tested using the riding simulator, and it was shown that this new control logic can reduce vibration to almost the same level as the original skyhook theory.