Sliding mode force tracking control for active hydro-pneumatic suspension

A nonlinear state equation model of Active Hydro-Pneumatic suspension (AHP) system is established basing on power bond graph theory. The nonlinear characteristics of stiffness and friction of the hydro-pneumatic spring actuator and the oil compressibility are considered in modeling. Meanwhile, a theoretical analysis is conducted for dynamic structural characteristics of hydro-pneumatic spring actuator. A sliding mode control (SMC) strategy is presented which has two closed-loops, where the outer loop considers the sprung velocity of skyhook reference model output as tracking target and the inner loop regards the desired force of the sliding mode solver as tracking target. Simultaneously, the sliding mode control laws of inner and outer loops are deduced. Especially, a divergence problem of outer loop sliding model solver caused by time delay is analyzed and a stabilization control algorithm is put forward to solve it. The accurate tracking of desired force of actuator and the improvement of ride quality are realized, while the effectiveness of the proposed sliding mode control law and stabilization control algorithm are verified through simulation studies of relevant contrast test.