Abstract
Keywords: Active Shock Absorbers, Reducing Braking Distance, ABS
This paper presents a control algorithm for semi-active suspensions to reduce the braking distance of passenger cars. Active shock absorbers are controlled and used to influence the vertical dynamics during ABS-controlled full braking. The core of the approach presented in this paper is based on a switching control logic. The con-trol algorithm is implemented in a compact class passenger car. Test drives on a real road, using a braking machine for reproducibility reasons, have been executed. It could be shown that it is possible to reduce the braking distance by affecting on the vertical dynamics of a passenger car in general. This is the first experimental result of this kind published. The amount of reduction depends on the height profile of the chosen testing track and on the initial velocity. On a road with an unevenness comparable to the one on a typical German autobahn a re-duction of typically 1-2 %, compared to the best passive damping, was achieved.