Energy regenerative suspension and its performance optimization for electric vehicle

A ball-screw energy regenerative suspension (BES) is proposed to solve the problems that the vibration energy of the automobile suspension is dissipated and its damping characteristic is poor. The BES not only realizes the suspension vibration energy recovery, but also obtains suspension damping characteristics with variable damping coefficients through a local optimization method. Hence, the performance of the BES is improved. Theoretical and simulation models of the suspension are established, and simulation results show that based on random road elevation, the average energy recovery power of the BES under different operating conditions is about 40 - 200 W. A vibration test platform of the BES is set up, and test results show that when a motor is used to drive, the instantaneous energy recovery power at different vibration speeds achieves 120 W. An objective function of the suspension performance is given, and test data is fitted to obtain the variable damping coefficient of the BES through changing the load resistance. It is concluded that the BES not only recycles the vibration energy, but also optimizes the suspension performance by controlling the load resistance.