Nonlinear Ride Height Control of Active Air Suspension System with Output Constraints and Time-Varying Disturbances

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of nonlinear height tracking control of an automobile active air suspension with the output state constraints and time-varying disturbances. The proposed control strategy guarantees that the ride height stays within a predefined range, and converges closely to an arbitrarily small neighborhood of the desired height, ensuring uniform ultimate boundedness. The designed nonlinear observer is able to compensate for the time-varying disturbances caused by external random road excitation and perturbations, achieving robust performance. Simulation results obtained from the co-simulation (AMESim-Matlab/Simulink) are given and analyzed, demonstrating the efficiency of the proposed control methodology.

Keywords

• nonlinear height control
• active air suspension
• output constraints
• random road excitation
• disturbance observer design