Controller design and nonlinear dynamics analysis of driver seat’s active suspension based on an advanced simulation model and PSO algorithm

Abstract

This study presents an advanced modeling and control framework for a seat suspension system incorporating a fully nonlinear air spring, a fully nonlinear damper, and the kinematics of an X-shaped guiding mechanism. A novel air spring design with an auxiliary air chamber connected to the main air spring is proposed, which significantly improves vibration isolation and reduces driver displacement compared to conventional system. To further enhance performance, intelligent Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) and robust Sliding Mode Control (SMC) strategies are developed using new design approaches. The FLC employs a newly constructed interactive rule base between displacement and velocity to generate the optimal control force, while the SMC uses a single sliding surface combined with a separation and equivalent transformation method to handle the coupling of control forces acting on both the driver and vehicle body. In addition, all controller parameters are simultaneously optimized using the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. Simulation results show that the improved passive system achieves 10%–24% displacement reduction and 8%–22% acceleration reduction, while active systems with SMC and FLC reduce driver displacement by 41% and 64%, respectively.