The effectiveness of the negative suspension structure (NSS) in isolating the
driver’s seat vibrations has been demonstrated based on the seat’s model or
vehicle’s one-dimensional dynamic model. To fully assess the effectiveness and
stability of the seat’s NSS (S-NSS) on different models of vehicles, the
three-dimensional models of the vibratory rollers (VR), heavy trucks (HT), and
passenger cars (PC) have been built to assess the effectiveness of S-NSS
compared to the seat’s passive suspension (S-PC) and seat’s control suspension
(S-CS). The effectiveness of S-NSS is then investigated under all operating
conditions of vehicles. The investigation results indicate that under a same
simulation condition, S-NSS improves the ride comfort and health of the driver
better than both S-PS and S-CS on all VR, HT, and PC. However, the effectiveness
of S-NSS on PC is lower than on both VR and HT while the effectiveness of S-CS
on PC is better than on both VR and HT. Besides, the effectiveness of S-NSS with
VR moving on the poor class of the ground surface is better than on the good
class of the ground surface. In addition, under the change of the velocity and
seat mass, the effectiveness of S-NSS on VR is not only higher than that on HT
and PC but also very stable, conversely, the effectiveness of S-CS on PC is
better than that on VR and HT. These results imply that S-NSS should be applied
on the seat suspension of VR, HT, and PC to improve the comfort and health of
the driver, especially on VR, while S-CS should be applied to PC to achieve its
best isolation effectiveness.
