A method for reshaping an electric drive signal of a real-time damper in a sprung mass system includes detecting a periodic frequency and magnitude of a target periodic vibration of a sprung mass. The periodic vibration has velocity and elasticity components that are 90 degrees out-of-phase. An electric drive signal to the real-time damper is reshaped by a controller depending on polarity of the velocity component to thereby generate a composite drive signal. The damper is energized using the composite drive signal to modify a damper force. Reshaping the electric drive signal includes injecting a force and/or an intermittent drive suppression component onto the electric drive signal based on the frequency and magnitude. The sprung mass system may have a frame and body, motion and wheel speed sensors, the real-time dampers, road wheels, and a controller programmed to perform the method.

A vehicle control device includes: a control portion that makes, of a plurality of shock absorbers included in a vehicle, a first damping force of at least one shock absorber that is located on a first direction side on which acceleration acts in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle larger than a second damping force of at least one shock absorber of the plurality of shock absorbers that is located on a second direction side opposite to the first direction in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle before acceleration acting on the vehicle is detected by an acceleration sensor due to acceleration or deceleration of the vehicle.

A method for adjusting the damper hardness of a vibration damper of a wheel of a transportation vehicle, wherein the transportation vehicle body movement signal is generated by a control device of the transportation vehicle from a first sensor signal of the first sensor unit connected fixedly in to a transportation vehicle body, a wheel movement signal is generated from a second sensor signal of a second sensor unit which detects a wheel position of the wheel with respect to the body, a speed signal which describes a speed of the transportation vehicle body is generated based on the transportation vehicle body movement signal, and the wheel movement signal and an actuation signal for setting the damper hardness is generated based on the speed signal. The transportation vehicle body movement signal is filtered by a first filter unit and/or the wheel movement signal is filtered by a second filter unit.

An electrically powered suspension system 11 achieves vibration control of a vehicle without disturbing a vehicle behavior and impairing riding comfort even if an electric motor 31 of an electromagnetic actuator 13 generates excessive heat, wherein the electromagnetic actuator 13 includes the electric motor 31 generating a driving force for vibration damping and extension/contraction; a target damping force setting part 51 setting a target damping force; a target extension/contraction setting part 53 setting a target extension/contraction force; and a drive controller 49 performing the drive control of the electric motor 31 using a drive force based on the target damping force and target extension/contraction force by limiting the motor current not to exceed a current threshold that is an addition of a damping current threshold and extension/contraction current threshold, which thresholds are separately configured considering a priority of riding comfort and steering stability.

An electrically powered suspension system includes: an electromagnetic actuator configured to generate a driving force related to vibration damping of the vehicle; an information acquisition unit configured to acquire information on a stroke velocity of the electromagnetic actuator; a target damping force calculation unit configured to calculate a target damping force based on the stroke velocity; a drive control unit configured to control driving of the electromagnetic actuator based on the target damping force; and a filter processing unit configured to perform a filtering process by applying a predetermined filtering characteristic to the stroke velocity. The filter processing unit has a plurality of filtering characteristics set in a second frequency region, which has a frequency higher than that of a first frequency region. The filter processing unit selectively applies, among the plurality of filtering characteristics, one filtering characteristic that is based on the stroke velocity to the stroke velocity.

An electrically powered suspension system includes: an electromagnetic actuator generating a driving force for vibration damping of the vehicle; an information acquisition part acquiring information on a stroke velocity of the electromagnetic actuator; a damping force calculator calculating a target damping force of the electromagnetic actuator, based on the information on the stroke velocity acquired by the information acquisition part; and a drive controller based on the target damping force calculated. The damping force calculator performs frequency-shaping of the stroke velocity for suppressing a low-frequency component of the stroke velocity, calculates an adjusted damping force based on the information on the stroke velocity after the frequency-shaping, and adjusts the target damping force using the adjusted damping force calculated. The suspension system appropriately suppresses vibration near a system resonance point while keeping excellent ride quality of the vehicle.

Methods and systems are provided for diagnosing a shock absorber coupled to a vehicle tire. In one example, a sensor of a tire pressure measurement system coupled inside a tire is used to measure a tire pressure as well as an oscillatory behavior of the tire. A state of health of a shock absorber coupled to the tire is estimated based on the oscillatory behavior.

A method for a vehicle comprising at least one wheel suspension with at least one damper, wherein the at least one damper is such that it can adjust its damping resistance between a first damping mode and at least a second damping mode, wherein the second damping mode presents a larger damping resistance than a damping resistance of the first damping mode. The method comprises the steps: S1) identifying if the vehicle is in a first situation during driving of said vehicle which may lead to a subsequent impact force (F) on the at least one wheel suspension which is of a magnitude such that the at least one damper, when in its first damping mode, will reach a position where no further damping can be performed; and, if this is the case, S2) adjusting the damping resistance from the first damping mode to the at least second damping mode.

Included are an electromagnetic actuator which generates a drive force for damping vibration of a vehicle body; an information acquirer which acquires time-series information about a stroke position of, and information about a stroke velocity of, the electromagnetic actuator, as well as information about reverse of a stroke direction and information about a stroke amount after the reverse; a damping force calculator which calculates a target damping force based on the information about the stroke velocity; and a drive controller which controls drive of the electromagnetic actuator using a target drive force based on the target damping force calculated by the damping force calculator. The damping force calculator corrects the target drive force based on the information about the stroke amount after the reverse acquired by the information acquirer.

Included are an electromagnetic actuator which includes an electric motor configured to generate drive forces for a damping operation and a telescopic operation; an information acquirer which acquires a stroke velocity of the electromagnetic actuator; a drive force arithmetic part which includes a damping force calculator configured to calculate a target damping force and a telescopic force calculator configured to calculate a target telescopic force, and which obtains a target drive force based on the target damping force and the target telescopic force; and a drive controller which controls drive of the electric motor using the target drive force. The drive force arithmetic part includes an adjuster which performs an adjustment to reduce a telescopic control amount for the target telescopic force based on the stroke velocity acquired by the information acquirer.