An Advanced Controller for a Semi-active Wheelchair Suspension

<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>

Name thesis:degree_name

MS in Mechanical Engineering

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Year dc:date.available

2011

Author dc:creator

• Smith, David J

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hemanth Porumamilla

• controls
• control theory
• semi-active suspension
• skyhook
• acceleration driven damping
• Acoustics, Dynamics, and Controls

Identifier

10.15368/theses.2011.5

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:theses-1474