A damper is provided having a twin tube construction interconnected to a gas reservoir. The connection of each of the inner and outer volumes of the twin tube to the gas reservoir is independently valved, and each of these valves are independently settable to change the differential pressure thereacross at which they open. The damper provides flow passages directly from the inner and outer volumes to enable flow form the compression to rebound sides thereof, as well as through the valved connections to the gas reservoir and at least one valved opening in the damper piston.

A system for grading filling of a suspension system includes: a pump control module configured to, during first and second periods, operate an electric pump of the suspension system in first and second directions and decreasing and increasing hydraulic fluid pressure within the suspension system, respectively; a monitoring module configured to: store a first pressure of hydraulic fluid within the suspension system measured using a pressure sensor when the first pressure is less than or equal a first predetermined pressure while the pump is operated in the first direction; and store a second pressure measured using the pressure sensor when the second pressure is greater than or equal a second predetermined pressure while the pump is operated in the second direction; and a grade module configured to determine a grade value for the filling of the suspension system based on the first and second pressures.

A road surface condition is determined appropriately. A road surface determining section (84) configured to determine a road surface state includes a threshold setting section (845) configured to set a threshold for determining the road surface state, so that a value of a desired control variable is multiplied by a coefficient determined in accordance with a result of the determination by the road surface determining section (84).

Provided is an electric suspension device including an electromagnetic actuator that is provided between a body and wheel of a vehicle and generates a load for damping vibration of the body. It includes: a camera that detects preview image information of a road surface in front of the vehicle; a 3D gyro sensor that detects a sprung speed of the vehicle; a target load computation unit that computes a target load based on the preview image information and the sprung speed; and a load control unit that controls the load of the actuator by using the computed target load. When a detection result based on the preview image information indicates that the front road surface is even but a detection result based on the sprung speed indicates that the front road surface is uneven, the target load computation unit computes the target load based on the sprung speed.

The vehicle control device of the present invention acquires characteristics of a road condition in front of a traveling vehicle based on external information; acquires vehicle behavior control variables for controlling the behavior of the vehicle based on estimated state variables of the vehicle that are obtained based on the characteristics, and control variables concerning speed of the vehicle based on the external information; acquires trajectory tracking control variables for causing the vehicle to track the target trajectory based on the target trajectory on which the vehicle travels that are obtained based on the characteristics and the estimated state variables; and outputs the control commands for controlling the suspension device, steering device, and braking and driving device based on the vehicle behavior control variables and the trajectory tracking control variables. This improves travel stability of the vehicle on a road surface on which an irregularity such as ruts exists.

A vehicle may include a sensor configured to acquire detecting data including front road surface information; a suspension including a spring and a damper; and a controller including a processor and a memory; wherein the controller is configured to identify an unevenness of the front road surface based on the detecting data and control the suspension based on damping force setting information corresponding to the unevenness when the vehicle reaches the unevenness.

A technology can be realized which increases the sense of unity with a vehicle that is felt by a driver. A suspension control device, which controls the damping force of the suspension of a vehicle, comprises a target control amount calculation unit which sets a target control amount, that is referenced when controlling the damping force of the suspension, such that the period of the phase of the roll angle and the period of the phase of the pitch angle of the vehicle approach a synchronized state, such that the magnitude of the expansion-side damping force is greater than the magnitude of the contraction-side damping force on the front-wheel-side of the vehicle, and such that the contraction-side damping force is greater than or equal to the expansion-side damping force on the rear-wheel-side of the vehicle.

A system to mitigate side-to-side movement of a vehicle induced by passing traffic includes a controller configured to receive vehicle speed information, a traffic sensing system in communication with the controller, a damping system in communication with the controller, and at least one controllable damper in communication with the damping system. The controller determines if the vehicle speed is less than a predetermined minimum vehicle speed threshold, determines if the vehicle is in the proximity of nearby traffic, determines if the nearby traffic is traveling at a speed above a predetermined traffic speed threshold, and commands increased damping at the at least one controllable damper.

An electrically powered suspension system includes: an electromagnetic actuator that is provided between a vehicle body and a wheel of a vehicle and generates a load for damping vibration of the vehicle body; an information acquisition part that acquires information on a state of a road surface ahead of the vehicle; a target load calculation part that calculates a target load for preview control based on the road surface state, and a load control part that performs load control on the electromagnetic actuator. The target load calculation part estimates an actual input timing based on the vehicle speed and calculates an adjustment start timing related to suspension characteristics, based on the estimated actual input timing. When estimating the actual input timing based on the vehicle speed, the target load calculation part applies, to the vehicle speed, a correction coefficient for correcting a fluctuation of the vehicle speed.

A control device is configured to control a damping force of a damping device using a difference between a front-rear acceleration of a vehicle main body and a rotational acceleration of a vehicle wheel, the damping device being configured to dampen a force generated between the vehicle main body and the vehicle wheel.