Active seat suspension for a small vehicle (Considerations for control system including observer)

摘要

We have examined the improvement of ride quality and the reduction of riding fatigue brought about by the active control of the seat suspension of small vehicles such as one-seater electric automobiles. A small active seat suspension, which is easy to install, was designed and manufactured for one-seater electric automobiles. For the actuator, a maintenance-free voice coil motor used as a direct drive was adopted. For fundamental considerations, we designed a one-degree-of-freedom model for the active seat suspension system. Then, we designed a disturbance cancellation control system that includes the observer for a two-degree-of-freedom model. In an actual driving test, a test road, in which the concavity and convexity of an actual road surface were simulated using hard rubber, was prepared and the control performance of vertical vibrations of the seat surface during driving was examined. As a result, in comparison with the one-degree-of-freedom control system, it was confirmed that the control performance was improved by the two-degree-of-freedom control system that includes the observer.