ACTIVE BODY CONTROL OF

FORD TRANSIT CONNECT

USING SEMI-ACTIVE SUSPENSIONS
Outline
 Introduction
 Ford Otosan & Product Development Team
 Project Scope & Objectives
 Semi-active suspension & CDC Dampers
 Vehicle Models
 Controller Algorithms
 Semi-active suspension control strategies
 Hardware infrastructure and prototype vehicle
 Sensors
 Actuators
 Control hardware
 Results
 Simulation Results
 Experimental Results
 Outputs & Conclusion
 Ford Otosan PD Roles & Responsibilities

 Ford has the overall engineering and sign -

off responsibility of Transit and Transit
Connect.

 Ford Otosan is a design and development Transit/

partner of Ford in current and future Transit Tourneo Connect
Connect product programs.

 Ford Otosan is the lead plant PVT for

Transit and Transit Connect

 Ford Otosan is leading the design and Transit

development of Puma I5 for use in export
and domestic Transits.

 Ford Otosan has the overall engineering

responsibility of Cargo Heavy truck and Cargo
Ecotorq Engine.
Project Scope

Due to the high level of competition in automotive industry, demand for safety and comfort is
increasing while development time and costs need to be reduced. This introduces real
challenge for Motor Companies and especially for PD engineers.

Safety in road vehicles is an important aspect and therefore many automobile industries are
interested in developing vehicle safety systems such as ABS, TCS, ESP etc... However,
performance is also an important actor next to safety issues.

In Ford Otosan Chassis Engineering Department, we have started a project to adopt a semi-
active suspension system to our light comercial vehicle.

This project is about the development of an active body control (TABC) system for the Ford
Transit Connect using semi active suspensions. The control objective is to improve the
ride comfort and road holding together with achieving roll and pitch stability using
four semi active suspension dampers.

All study was completed by Otosan PD engineers and ITU team. The aim of the project is
to build know-how about new technologies in Otosan PD department, improve
technical capabilities of PD engineers and build a prototype light commercial vehicle
with its unique controllers.
Semi - Active Suspension

 Semi-active suspension system involves special type of variable dampers

that are different from passive vehicle suspensions. Damping properties
of these components can be changed via magnetic or electric effect.

 These dampers are controlled by an external control system; therefore

their damping characteristics can be changed with respect to vehicle and
road conditions.

 There are sensors that give the necessary feedback about the vehicle’s
states and along with actuators and control units on the vehicle.

CVD Dampers Sensors Controller

Infrastructıre
Vehicle Models – Quarter Car Model

Vehicle Body

 On this particular model, only ¼ of the vehicle is taken into consideration to

develop a semi-active suspension low level controller. Model is a 2
dimensional model because only movement on z direction is taken into
consideration.
 Vehicle Models – Half Car Model

Model is again a 2 dimensional model which

has a movement only on Z direction.

Advantages of this model are;

 Vehicle pitch motions can be simulated.
 Fr and rr damper and spring characteristics
can be modeled differently which is also
different on the actual vehicle.
 Body motions and center of gravity effect
can be simulated.
Vehicle Models – Full Car Model

Model is a 3 dimensional model which has a movement on Z direction.

On full-car model;
 Vehicle pitch and roll motions can be simulated.
 Different front and rear suspension system geometries can be modeled (for example,
vehicle has independent suspension on the front and a solid dead beam on the rear and
this can be geometrically modeled on a full car model).
 Left and right hand side body and tire motions of the vehicle can be simulated
separately.
 Un-sprung and sprung mass motions can be evaluated for both front & rear right and
the left hand side suspension systems.
Control Algorithms

Skyhook
Groundhook Lower Level Control:
Hybrid Individual control of
each shock absorber.
Lower level
Upper Level Control:
Controller
Control of whole body
motions like pitch and
roll.

Upper Level
Controller
Hardware Infrastructure and Prototype Vehicle
Sensors

Sensors

Yaw rate sensor

Accelerometers Linear Potentiometer

Used for
validation of
accelerometers. Measure the
Measure the
Measure the general states of
vertical
relative vehicle such as
acceleration of
displacement. yaw rate, roll rate.
body and
wheels.
Actuators
Control Hardware

controller
hardware is used in
the semi active
suspension system.

Controller hardware
consists of;
1. Microautobox
2. RapidPro control
Unit
3. Rapid Pro Power
Unit
Implementation
Simulation & Tests

During the design process, two main test types

were performed.

Offline Simulations Real time tests

 Validation of controller
algorithms and models.

Test Bench tests Road Tests

 Using squeak and  Using various
rattle test bench. road profiles
Simulation Results
4-Poster Rig Test
Simulation Results

Tests and Results

-Sprung Mass Displacement- Skyhook Controller

INPUT: Road disturbance as a

sinusodial input
OUTPUT: Sprung Mass
Displacement
Sprung mass displacement is
taken into consideration for
comfort.
So input frequencies are 1-5Hz
as defined on project scope.
As it is seen form the graphs,
Sprung mass (Body)
displacements are reduced
with controlled suspension
system.
Simulation Results

Tests and Results

-Unsprung Mass Displacement- Groundhook Controller

INPUT: Road disturbance as a

sinusodial input
OUTPUT: Un-sprung Mass
Displacement
Un-sprung mass displacement is
taken into consideration for road
handling
So input frequencies are 7-15Hz
as defined on project scope.
As it is seen form the graphs,
Un-sprung mass (Tire)
displacements are reduced
with controlled suspension
system.
Simulation Results

Squeak and Rattle Test Bench Results:

Input from
test bench
Output from
accelerometers
Experimental Results

Examples
from Road
Tests
Project Outputs

Technical Papers:

 "Stability Enhancement of a Light Commercial Vehicle Using Active Steering", SAE Paper,
March 2006.
 "Compliant Control of Electric Power Assisted Steering Systems", SAE Paper, November
2005.
 ''Semi Active Suspension Control System Development For A Light Commercial Vehicle'‘
Mechatronics 2006 - 4th IFAC-Symposium on Mechatronic Systems Heidelberg,
Germany, September 2006
 ''Robust Velocity Scheduled Yaw Stability Control of a Light Commercial Vehicle'', IEEE
Intelligent Vehicle Symposium Tokyo, Japan, June, 2006
 ''Robust Yaw Stability Controller Design for a Light Commercial Vehicle Using a Hardware in
the Loop Steering Test Rig'‘, The 2007 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium
 ''Observer Based Semi-Active Suspension Control Applied to a Light Commercial Vehicle'‘,
2007 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics
 ''Steer-by-Wire Control of a Light Commercial Vehicle Using a Hardware-in-the-Loop Test
Setup'' SAE Paper 2007-01-4198, SAE 2007 Commercial Vehicle Engineering Congress &
Exhibition
 ''Transient Active Body Control of a Ford Transit Connect using Semi-active Suspensions'‘ SAE
Paper 2007-01-4268, SAE 2007 Commercial Vehicle Engineering Congress & Exhibition
 ''Nonlinear Suspension Spring and Damper Characteristic Optimization for Vehicle Ride and
Handling Improvement'‘, SAE 2008 Commercial Vehicle Engineering Congress &
Exhibition
Project Outputs

Other Publications:


 ''Ford Otosan: Active Chassis Control'‘ dSpace News

 ''Ford Otosan – Semi Active Suspension Control Development for a Light

Commercial Vehicle'‘ Ford Motor Company - Vehicle Dynamics Newsletter

Academical Studies & Patents:

 3 Msc. Thessis.

 1 Phd. Thessis.

 2 Patent applications.
Conclusion

This project is developed and finalized only by the PD enginners of Ford-

Otosan and Istanbul Technical Universty members. (Without any support
from suppliers)
As mentioned before; The aim of the project is to build the know-how
about new technologies in Otosan PD department, improve technical
capabilities of PD engineers and build a light commercial vehicle
prototype with unique controllers.
And as a result, a semi-active control algorithm is developed for a light
commercial vehicle and this algorithm guarantees both performance and
transient stability of pitch and roll motions of the vehicle.
The unique control algorithm is tested both in simulation and on
experimental vehicle. Simulation and experimental results show that an
improvement on ride comfort is achieved without compromising handling
quality. Both a four poster and road testing were used for experimental
testing.
Gölcük