• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2002

Semi-active suspension systems are greatly expected to be in the mainstream of future controlled suspensions fur passenger cars. In this study, a continuous variable damper for a passenger car suspension is developed. It is controlled actively and exhibits high performance with light weight, low cost, and low energy consumption. To get fast response of the damper, reverse damping mechanism is adapted, and to get small pressure change rate after blow-off, a pilot controlled proportional valve is designed and analyzed. The reverse continuous variable damper is designed as a HS-SH damper which offers good body control with reduced transferred input force from tire, compared with any other type of suspension system. The damper structure is designed, so that rebound and compression damping force can be tuned independently, of which variable valve is placed externally. The rate of pressure change with respect to the flow rate after blow-offbecomes smooth when the fixed orifice size increases. Damping forces are measured with the change of the solenoid current at the different piston velocities to confirm the maximum hysteresis of 20N, linearity, and variance of damping farce. The damping farce variance is wide and continuous, and is controlled by the spoof opening, of which scheme is usually adapted in proportional valves. The reverse continuous variable damper developed in this study is expected to be utilized in the semi-active suspension systems in passenger cars after its performance and simplicity of the design is confirmed through real car test.