Vibration control of a MR seat damper for commercial vehicles

This paper presents vibration control of a semi-active seat suspension with a magneto-rheological (MR) fluid damper, which is applicable to commercial vehicles such as large size of trucks. A cylindrical MR seat damper is designed on the basis of the Bingham model of the MR fluid. After manufacturing the seat damper, field-dependent damping force characteristics are experimentally evaluated. A semi-active seat suspension system installed with the seat damper is then constructed and its governing equation of motion is derived. A skyhook controller to reduce vibration level at the driver's seat is formulated and realized in a closed-loop control fashion. The control responses, such as acceleration transmissibility, are investigated in both frequency and time domains. In addition, a full-vehicle model featuring the proposed semi-active seat suspension is established and its vibration control performances are evaluated via the hardware- in-the-loop simulation (HILS).