A suspension system for a traveling vehicle body is disclosed. The system includes a suspension reference position varying mechanism (18) for varying a reference position of a suspension stroke of the suspension mechanism (100), and a controller (35) configured to calculate an intermediate value from a maximal value corresponding to the maximal position of the suspension stroke and a minimal value corresponding to the minimal position of the suspension stroke, and to control the suspension reference position varying mechanism such that, when the calculated intermediate values deviates from a set target range, the intermediate value is displaced toward the target range. The controller (35) increases a control execution frequency for the suspension reference position varying mechanism (18) when the traveling speed of the vehicle body is low, and reduces the control execution frequency for the suspension reference position varying mechanism (18) when the traveling speed of the vehicle body is high.

A vehicle travel control system includes: a sensor for detecting an acceleration or an angular velocity of a sprung mass structure of the vehicle; and a controller configured to: calculate a first sprung parameter being a velocity or a displacement of the sprung mass structure from the sensor detection value; apply a high pass filter to the first sprung parameter to acquire a second sprung parameter; and control travel of the vehicle based on the second sprung parameter. The controller changes strength of the high pass filter according to an offset level representing a magnitude of an offset component of the first sprung parameter. Regarding a first offset level and a second offset level higher than the first offset level, the high pass filter is stronger in a case of the second offset level than in a case of the first offset level.

The disclosed is a damping force control apparatus for a vehicle which has a control device that stores a reference time that is set to a value within a predetermined range including the resonance period time of the front wheel. When determining that the predetermined vertical displacement portions are present in front of the front wheel on the basis of the detection result of a road surface sensor, the control device sets the damping coefficient of the shock absorber is set to the minimum value by the timing at which the front wheel reaches a predetermined vertical displacement portion, and returns the control of the damping coefficient to the control in accordance with a predetermined control law when a predetermined elapsed time based on the reference time has elapsed from the above timing.

[Object] To provide a suspension control apparatus, a suspension control method, and a program, by which unsprung vibrations or sprung vibrations of each wheel can be efficiently suppressed.

[Solving Means] A suspension control apparatus (20) includes a signal generator (40) and a control unit (50). The signal generator (40) generates a first state signal regarding unsprung vibrations of a first wheel and a second state signal regarding unsprung vibrations of a second wheel. The control unit (50) generates, on the basis of the first and second state signals, a control signal for mutually and cooperatively controlling a first damper mounted on the first wheel and a second damper mounted on the second wheel.

A relative velocity between a sprung mass and an unsprung mass of a vehicle is calculated by differentiating a stroke amount of an electromagnetic damper with respect to time. The relative velocity is compared with a predetermined value that is set in advance, and a determination is made whether or not the relative velocity is the predetermined value or higher. In a case where the relative velocity is lower than the predetermined value (relative velocity<predetermined value), a normal filter is selected, and a gain G of only an unsprung resonance frequency range is increased. On the other hand, in a case where the relative velocity is the predetermined value or higher (relative velocity≧predetermined value), a delay inhibition filter is selected, and a gain of a high frequency range is increased compared to the normal filter.

A suspension controller includes a wheel speed sensor that detects the wheel speed of each wheel, a basic input amount calculating unit that calculates the basic input amount of the vehicle on the basis of a wheel speed variation detected by the wheel speed sensor, a state amount calculating unit that calculates the state amount of the vehicle by inputting the basic input amount to a vehicle model representing the motion of the vehicle, and a damper controlling unit that controls the damping force of a damping-force-variable damper on the basis of the calculated state amount. If the wheel speed variation detected by the wheel speed sensor decreases below zero by a predetermined value or more on the minus side, the vertical load of the wheel is considered to be decreased, and the damping force is controlled to be greater than before the decrease.

A control unit configured to control a control force generating device configured to generate a control force for damping a sprung portion of a vehicle controls the control force generating device based on a target control force Fcit for damping the sprung portion when a wheel passes through a predicted wheel passing position. The control unit acquires an unsprung displacement z.sub.1i at the predicted wheel passing position, and calculates the target control force as a value proportional to an unsprung displacement z.sub.1ai that is the unsprung displacement z.sub.1i having a phase that has been advanced to advance a phase of a transfer function from the unsprung displacement z.sub.1i to the target control force by a phase advance amount larger than 0 degrees and smaller than 180 degrees.

A suspension damping device installed at a chassis of a mobile robot comprises a vehicle frame, a controlling arm set and a damping device. The vehicle frame is fixed to the chassis and arranged on the ground. One end of the controlling arm set is hinged to the vehicle frame, and the other end of the controlling arm set is hinged to a steering device, so the controlling arm set controls the motion stability of the steering device. One end of the damping device opposite to the ground is hinged to the vehicle frame, and the other end of the damping device faced to the ground is hinged to the steering device. A six-wheeled bionic chassis which comprises a chassis frame, a controller, a sensor, front wheel suspension assemblies, middle wheel suspension assemblies and rear wheel suspension assemblies is also disclosed in the present invention.

Vehicle cab suspension control systems are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the cab suspension control systems can include front cab-to-frame mounts that include controllable elastomer-based isolators that can provide real time variable damping to improve ride quality and/or road holding and reduce cab roll in response to, for example, input from one or more cab and/or frame mounted accelerometers, position sensors, etc. Embodiments of the control systems described herein can utilize a single vehicle controller (e.g., an ECU) to control all of the cab suspension components (e.g., semi-active damping technologies, air spring technologies, etc.) employed on a vehicle to provide a single suspension control solution that can provide improved ride performance, road holding, etc.

The invention resides in a system and method for determining the manner in which a vehicle is driven. The system comprises a processor comprising an input configured to receive dynamic ride data from at least one on-board vehicle dynamic ride sensor, wherein the processor is configured (i) to calculate an output signal which is indicative of whether the dynamic ride data exceeds at least one dynamic ride data threshold value for a predetermined period of time; and (ii) to compare the output signal with at least one output threshold to determine the manner in which the vehicle is driven. The processor comprises an output configured to send a control signal to one or more vehicle components, wherein the control signal is indicative of the manner in which the vehicle is driven.