Active Suspension Group

The suspension for our project is going to be one of its kind. There aren't anything that can be directly pulled out and implemented in our project. Even though there are many suspended vehicle designs such as gondolas at ski resorts, or even roller coasters at theme parks, they cannot be implemented in our design, something has to be innovated. Gondolas for example sway with the wind, stays upright with elevation, but still swings back and forth due to acceleration, and the roller coasters are attached with minimal to no vibration dampening systems. Our design needs to satisfy the following issues: cannot allow side swaying in the wind, no jerking back and forth due to acceleration and deceleration, and being able to keep the bogie parallel to the ground while the track elevation changes. So this basically takes out the use of mechanical suspension designs. What's left is: electronically controlled designs. The bogie's position has to be continuously monitored, as well as it "sag" due to weight of the passengers, as the bogie needs to align itself perfectly with the station platform to allow easy access to the disabled passengers with wheelchairs. Most of the luxury cars nowadays are equipped with Active Suspension systems that utilize air compressors or magnetic fluids, to ensure comfort to its passengers. This is where our work gets extremely difficult. But our best bet so far is to utilize the electronically controlled magnetic suspension system. See Figure 1 below, to see how to interior works on the dampers, utilizing the magnetic current to manipulate the fluid flow, stiffening and softening the suspension travel.

 

http://www.cvel.clemson.edu/auto/AuE835_Projects_2011/Shinde_project.html
Figure 1: Cross section of the Magnetic Suspension Damper

This alone couldn't solve our problem, there needs to be many simulations and calculations to complete, in order to get the mechanical design of the whole system, and many electrical sensors, and actuators must be used. For example, there could be a small sensor on the side of the bogie, which senses the position of the bogie relative to the station, and it compensates for the weight, and electronically elevates/compensates for the weight. So the bogie would still ride comfortably, while arriving at the station, perfectly aligned to the platform, See Figure 2 below for the illustration.