A Study on the Performance Estimation of Semi-active Suspension System Considering the Response Time of Electro-rheological Fluid

ABSTRACT: This paper deals with the performance estimation of the semi-active suspension system considering the response time of electro-rheological fluid (ERF)-based damper. The Bingham characteristics and response time of ERFs are obtained experimentally. Then the ER damper is applied to the quarter car model and its performance using sky-hook control algorithm is compared to the system using conventional damper through computer simulation. As simulation results, the gain is improved above 50 % but it is deteriorated rapidly with the increase of response time. So it is proved that the response time as well as the yield stress of ERFs is the dominant factor to design the semi-active suspension system using the ER damper. Key Words: ER fluids, ER damper, semi-active, response tim