Controlling Weight Transfer with Active Damping

This paper discusses the design and application of a semi-active damping system controlled by a student designed microprocessor that reads accelerations laterally and longitudinally from separate accelerometers to anticipate chassis orientation and responds with an analog voltage to each damper. This dynamically alters the shock oils effective viscosity to keep the chassis movement within desired parameters.

The system described will be incorporated into a one-seater open wheeled racecar that is outfitted with a non-parallel, unequal length SLA suspension designed for entry in the 2001 Formula SAE competition. The focus will be more on the damping of low and high frequency obstacles and the resulting chassis (sprung mass) control rather than controller design, since it is an entirely different collection of papers unto itself.