A study on the tuning parameter of continuous variable valve for reverse continuous damper

Abstract

Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 1-4 July, 2007.

Semi-active suspension systems are greatly expected to be in the mainstream of future controlled suspensions for passenger cars. In this study, a continuous variable damper for a passenger car suspension is developed, which is controlled actively and exhibits high performance with light weight, low cost, and low energy consumption. To get a fast response of the damper, a reverse damping mechanism is adapted, and to get small pressure change rate after blow-off, a pilot controlled proportional valve is designed and analyzed. The reverse continuous variable damper is designed as a HS-SH damper which offers good body control with reduced transferred input force from the tire, compared with any other type of suspension system. The damper structure is designed, so that rebound and compression damping forces can be tuned independently, of which the variable valve is placed externally. The rate of pressure change with respect to the flow rate after blow-off becomes smooth when the fixed orifice size increases, which means that the blow-off slope is controllable using the fixed orifice size. Damping forces are measured with the change of the solenoid current at the different piston velocities to confirm the maximum hysteresis of 20 N, linearity, and variance of damping force. The damping force variance is wide and continuous, and is controlled by the spool opening, of which scheme is usually adapted in proportional valves. The reverse continuous variable damper developed in this study is expected to be utilized in the semi-active suspension systems in passenger cars after its performance and simplicity of the design is confirmed through a real car test.