DESIGN, MATHEMATICAL MODELING AND CONTROL OF AN ASYMMETRICAL ELECTRORHEOLOGICAL DAMPER

This paper is concerned with the design, the mathematical modeling and the control of an electrorheological (ER) damper for automotive applications. A continuous variation and the desired asymmetrical behavior of the damping characteristics is achieved by an intelligent combination of an ER valve with a laminar damping orifice and check valves. The resulting construction is distinguished by a very compact design and its fail-safe characteristics in the case of a fault of the high-voltage amplifier. Furthermore, some design considerations for the ER damper are given. Based on a detailed mathematical model a nonlinear control strategy is developed. Finally, the feasibility and the usefulness of the proposed construction and the nonlinear control strategy is demonstrated by means of simulation studies.