Robust fuzzy output feedback control for a magnetorheological semi-active air suspension system with time-delay and actuator saturation

Magnetorheological fluid (MRF) dampers have been utilized in semi-active air suspension (SAAS) due to their attractive advantages. This paper investigates a novel robust fuzzy output feedback controller for semi-active air suspension with MRF damper (SAAS-MRFD), considering time delay and actuator saturation. An aero-thermodynamics theory is first utilized to describe the nonlinear air spring. The damping force of the MRF damper is represented by a hyperbolic tangent model. The interval type-2 (IT-2) Takagi–Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy method is second employed to capture those nonlinearities of the air spring and MRF damper. Considering the difficulty to measure all states, a novel dynamic output feedback (DOF) controller is developed by an appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii function and the reciprocally convex technique with consideration of time delay, actuator saturation, and output constraints. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is validated by both simulation and a quarter-car test rig (QCTR). The results indicate that the proposed controller has better performance in vibration reduction than the recent similar controllers in the literature.