This article introduces a new approach to manage the “handling–comfort” contradiction of a vehicle suspension system. The idea is based on determining a specific time constant that reflects the percentage of suspension damping. This time constant is defined using the measurement of the sprung mass acceleration and the suspension deflection. A distinction is made between the control unit design for a semi-active suspension system and the control unit design for an active suspension system. The semi-active design is based on two sensors and a Kalman filter (KF), while the active design is based on three sensors and a dual-estimation KF. For active suspension, a third sensor was added to measure the acceleration of the unsprung mass. Simulation is carried out in Simulink and Simscape environments. The results of the proposed approach were compared with the results achieved by the hybrid-hook system. Simulation results showed a better efficiency of the proposed approach in driving safety during a “comfort” situation.

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In this paper, we tackle the handling-comfort conflicting problem of a quarter-car system using Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC). ADRC parameters are tuned using Vyshnegradsky equations which determine the stability criteria of a third order system. To do this, a multi-objective optimization procedure for selection of ADRC observer coefficients is formulated using a genetic algorithm. Suspension deflection and sprung mass acceleration responses are tested to a random road disturbance input. Simulation results show that the compromised solution between handling and comfort can be achieved by introducing the sprung mass acceleration into the feedback loop of ADRC. Using this approach allows for improving the issue of comfort up to 50 percent with just 10 percent worse performance of the issue of handling.

This paper investigates managing the comfort-handling trade-off of a quarter car suspension system using a Kalman filter. Using the unscented Kalman filter, the adapted feedback input signal is extracted based on the vertical acceleration signals of the chassis and wheel. Considering the chassis acceleration signal as the primary feedback to maintain a required comfort level, it is continuously adapted to keep an acceptable level of road handling. Compared with the traditional methods, which rely on the combination of the two modes of comfort and handling through an intermediate variable to manage the contradiction, this method focuses on comfort and improves the process of the road handling automatically. The proposed strategy is evaluated using simulation in MATLAB and the results show the feasibility of this method in managing the handling-comfort trade-off. In addition, mathematical relationships that allow this control strategy to be derived were shown. Moreover, the effects of road disturbances amplitudes and road quality on the performance of the proposed control strategy were investigated. Furthermore, the performance of the proposed method is compared with that of the hybrid-hook and the results show the superiority of the proposed algorithm.

Synthesis of Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) has been discussed in this work. Two main approaches have been presented for the second-order ADRC: Linear ADRC and nonlinear ADRC. A design procedure for the three main components of ADRC: controller, estimator, and disturbance rejection scheme has been presented in each approach. Parameters of the linear approach are tuned using the desired closed loop system bandwidth. Parameters of the nonlinear approach are selected by categorizing them first into usual parameters and key parameters. After that, the key parameters are optimized using Genetic Algorithm (GA). The two approaches have been tested on a quarter-car system that deals with the passenger comfort problem. Simulation results show a good performance and a good compensation for external disturbances and dynamic uncertainties