An Advanced Controller for a Semi-Active Wheelchair Suspension was designed, built and tested. The suspension consisted of a Goodyear 1S3-011 air spring, IQ Valves high speed proportional solenoid valve, and a custom made accumulator. Several controller designs specific to semi-active suspensions were designed and tested. The controllers investigated were skyhook, acceleration driven damping, and a combined control law employing both a dual and single sensor version. The implementation of skyhook control suffered performance degradation from the idealization due to particular elements of hardware, however acceleration driven damping showed a marked and statistically significant improvement over skyhook control, in hardware, by 14%. The combined control laws exhibited as yet unexplained transient behavior that produced results with low confidence in their veracity. All controllers proposed performed better than a conventional oil damper and spring type suspension.
","abstract_html":"<p>An Advanced Controller for a Semi-Active Wheelchair Suspension was designed, built and tested. The suspension consisted of a Goodyear 1S3-011 air spring, IQ Valves high speed proportional solenoid valve, and a custom made accumulator. Several controller designs specific to semi-active suspensions were designed and tested. The controllers investigated were skyhook, acceleration driven damping, and a combined control law employing both a dual and single sensor version. The implementation of skyhook control suffered performance degradation from the idealization due to particular elements of hardware, however acceleration driven damping showed a marked and statistically significant improvement over skyhook control, in hardware, by 14%. The combined control laws exhibited as yet unexplained transient behavior that produced results with low confidence in their veracity. All controllers proposed performed better than a conventional oil damper and spring type suspension.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Smith, David J"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"MS in Mechanical Engineering","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Mechanical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Hemanth Porumamilla"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2011-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:32:42Z","subjects":["controls","control theory","semi-active suspension","skyhook","acceleration driven damping","Acoustics, Dynamics, and Controls"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["10.15368/theses.2011.5"],"render_values":[{"text":"10.15368/theses.2011.5","href":"https://doi.org/10.15368/theses.2011.5","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/451","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Hemanth Porumamilla"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Smith, David J"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2011-02-27T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["MS in Mechanical Engineering"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["controls","control theory","semi-active suspension","skyhook","acceleration driven damping","Acoustics, Dynamics, and Controls"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/451","10.15368/theses.2011.5"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["An Advanced Controller for a Semi-Active Wheelchair Suspension was designed, built and tested. The suspension consisted of a Goodyear 1S3-011 air spring, IQ Valves high speed proportional solenoid valve, and a custom made accumulator. Several controller designs specific to semi-active suspensions were designed and tested. The controllers investigated were skyhook, acceleration driven damping, and a combined control law employing both a dual and single sensor version. The implementation of skyhook control suffered performance degradation from the idealization due to particular elements of hardware, however acceleration driven damping showed a marked and statistically significant improvement over skyhook control, in hardware, by 14%. The combined control laws exhibited as yet unexplained transient behavior that produced results with low confidence in their veracity. All controllers proposed performed better than a conventional oil damper and spring type suspension.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["An Advanced Controller for a Semi-active Wheelchair Suspension"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Hemanth Porumamilla"],"dc:creator":["Smith, David J"],"dc:date.available":["2011-02-27T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["An Advanced Controller for a Semi-Active Wheelchair Suspension was designed, built and tested. The suspension consisted of a Goodyear 1S3-011 air spring, IQ Valves high speed proportional solenoid valve, and a custom made accumulator. Several controller designs specific to semi-active suspensions were designed and tested. The controllers investigated were skyhook, acceleration driven damping, and a combined control law employing both a dual and single sensor version. The implementation of skyhook control suffered performance degradation from the idealization due to particular elements of hardware, however acceleration driven damping showed a marked and statistically significant improvement over skyhook control, in hardware, by 14%. The combined control laws exhibited as yet unexplained transient behavior that produced results with low confidence in their veracity. All controllers proposed performed better than a conventional oil damper and spring type suspension.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/451","10.15368/theses.2011.5"],"dc:subject":["controls","control theory","semi-active suspension","skyhook","acceleration driven damping","Acoustics, Dynamics, and Controls"],"dc:title":["An Advanced Controller for a Semi-active Wheelchair Suspension"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Mechanical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_name":["MS in Mechanical Engineering"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:32:42Z"}