Comparison of a New Passive and Active Technology for Vibration Reduction of a Vehicle under Uncertain Load

This paper presents two new technologies in order to optimize the operation of a con-ventional spring-damper-system. Therefore, the function structure such as the energy flow of a con-ventional system is investigated and optimized. The first resulting technology is the fluid dynamicabsorber (FDA) which is still a passive solution and improves the energy flow of the conventionalspring-damper-system with the help of an absorber with a hydraulic transmission. The second tech-nology is the active air spring damper (AASD) which is an active variant of a spring-damper-systemand optimizes the energy flow by using electrical energy. We use a quarter car model to examine theperformance of our technologies and compare them in the conflict diagram where driving comfort vs.driving safety is shown within the scope of uncertainty. The FDA improves the driving safety at almostthe same comfort. The driving comfort is improved by using the AASD. We also examine the systembehavior at uncertain loads. The results show that they are capable of controlling this uncertainty.