Effect of Semi-active Suspension Controller Design Using Magnetorheological Fluid Damper on Vehicle Traction Performance

In order to achieve the high capability of the ride comfort and regulating the tire slip ratio, a preview of a nonlinear semi-active vibration control suspension system using a magnetorheological (MR) fluid damper is integrated with traction control in this paper. A controlled semi-active suspension system, which consists of the system controller and damper controller, was used to develop ride comfort, while the traction controller is utilized to reduce a generated slip between the vehicle speed and rotational rate of the tire. Both Fractional-Order Filtered Proportional-Integral-Derivative (P¯IλDμ) and Fuzzy Logic connected either series or parallel with P¯IλDμ are designed as various methodologies of a system controller to generate optimal tracking of the desired damping force. The signum function method is modified as a damper controller to calculate an applied input voltage to the MR damper coil based on both preview signals and the desired damping force tracking. The fuzzy self-organizing mechanism is utilized for designing the electronic control unit of a traction control system (TCS) to adapt the tire torque produced from the powertrain based on the ratio of tire brake torque and the normal tire torque generated by controlling the MR damper. Suspension dynamics criteria described by the two degrees-of-freedom (2-DOF) ride model are used to compare between the passive suspension system and four types of control techniques applied in the semi-active suspension system during both time and frequency domains. The simulation results show that the MR semi-active suspension system using optimal preview Fuzzy- P¯IλDμ controller synchronizing with a fuzzy self-organizing mechanism can achieve optimal capabilities for both ride comfort and traction stability.