Semi-active suspension system for motorcycles: From the idea to the industrial product

Semi-active systems are at the top of the motorcycle suspension market in terms of both performance and cost. Their performance depends on two main elements: the damper regulation technique and the control strategy. Magneto-Rheological Damper is the choice made by the authors for their suspension system. From the academic research, passing through the pre-industrialization made by a spin off company, the semi active suspension system becomes a commercial product today available on the market. In the paper the story is told from the first step concerning the damper characterization to the road tests of the first prototypes.

I. Introduction

The suspension system plays a fundamental role in vehicles: it controls contact between vehicles tires and road, in order to assure comfort, road holding and braking performance [1]–[2]. Passenger comfort is high if the road roughness and profile only transfer soft oscillations to the suspended mass, whilst the road holding gets worsen for excessive load transfers. This means that low damping forces let springs do their job for assuring more comfort, but make the road holding and even braking performance decrease. This is the reason why passive (hydraulic) suspension characteristics are the result of a compromise between the capacity of isolating vibration and the road holding.