A stepper motor-driven semi-active variable damper

Part 1: stepper motor positioning control and

performance
X. Carrera Akutain* and J.M. Carballo
TECNUN (University of Navarra),
Manuel de Lardizabal 13, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
Fax.: +34 943311442
E-mail: xcarrera@tecnun.es E-mail: jmcarballo@tecnun.es
*Corresponding author
J. Savall and J. Vin olas
CEIT and TECNUN (University of Navarra),
Manuel de Lardizabal 15, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
Fax: +34 943213076
E-mail: jvinolas@ceit.es E-mail: jsavall@ceit.es
Abstract: Controllable dampers cannot track the force command of an
idealised model. Literature proves the importance of considering practical
constraints in the development of semi-active suspensions. Limitations
concerning the non-linear behaviour of the dampers, as well as the phase lag
in the damping force response due to the actuator transients, are of
particular importance. This paper tries to develop a comprehensive
description of a semi-active system with stepper motors, putting emphasis
on two features. On one hand, the implementation of an open-loop
positioning control for the stepper motors that reduces position
uncertainty. On the other hand, the development of advanced bandwidth
and time-response tests in order to understand the dynamic performance of
the system. The obtained results show a reliable position tracking of the
motors and can be very valuable for its implementation on semi-active
suspension systems, utilising stepper motors, independently of the selected
control strategy.
Keywords: bandwidth; semi-active controllable damper; stepper motor
positioning.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Carrera Akutain, X.,
Carballo, J.M., Savall, J. and Vin olas, J. (0000) `A stepper motor-driven
semi-active variable damper Part 1: stepper motor positioning control and
performance', Int. J. Vehicle Autonomous Systems, Vol. 00, Nos. 0/0,
pp.000000.
Biographical notes: Xabier Carrera Akutain is a Research Student and PhD
Candidate in the school of Mechanical Engineering at Tecnun (University
of Navarra). He received his MS degree in industrial engineering from
Tecnun in 2001 and has been Assistant Professor of machine elements since
2002. His research interests are vehicle dynamics, data-acquisition and
mechatronics.
Int. J. Vehicle Autonomous Systems, Vol. 00, Nos. 0/0, 0000 1
Copyright # 0000 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Jose Manuel Carballo is a Research Student in the school of Mechanical
Engineering at Tecnun (University of Navarra). He received his degree in
electrical engineering from the University of the Basque Country in 2001
and his MS degree from Tecnun in 2004. His research interests are applied
electronics and mechatronics.
Joan Savall is a Research Staff Member at CEIT and he is Assistant
Professor of Machine Theory at Tecnun (University of Navarra)
Engineering School. He received his MS degree in mechanical engineering
from the University of Navarra in 1995. He was a Visiting Researcher in
1996 at PMA in Belgium, where he started out in mechanical design for
mechatronics. He has several patents pending. His research interests include
mechanical design, robotics and mechatronics.
Jordi Vin olas is at present the Head of the Applied Mechanics Department
at CEIT (Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Te cnicas) and Associate
Professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Tecnun (University of Navarra).
He obtained his PhD in 1991 with the thesis `A new experimental
methodology for testing active and conventional active suspensions'. He has
been involved in different research projects related to vehicle dynamics,
noise and vibration.
1 Introduction
In recent years, the advantages of controllable suspensions have attracted increasing
interest in the automotive industry and among researchers. Encouraging results have
been achieved with several developments on advanced suspension systems. Fully
active systems are the most powerful tool to improve the suspension performance.
However, for commercial cars, they are restricted to control relatively low frequency
body movements, like the ABC system of the Mercedes SL, due to excessive cost,
weight and power consumption of the externally powered actuators. In principle,
semi-active dampers could appear to be even more limited. They present a different
control input generation mechanism, as in this case energy cannot be supplied to the
system. A semi-active suspension requires meaningfully less power but instead
provides high bandwidth control over the passively generated damping forces,
exhibiting a performance approaching that of a fully active system (Ahmadian, 1997;
Karnopp et al., 1975; Margolis, 1982). This type of suspension is being installed,
initially in luxury and super-sports cars. At the same time, as technology advances,
manufacturers are leaning toward providing the system as a standard feature.
Monroe and O

hlins have developed a continuously variable damper (CVD) system,

called CES/Four C in the Volvo top series. Furthermore, ZF Sachs equips several
premium vehicles like the Maserati Spyder (Hutton, 2001; Wilson, 2001) or
Quattroporte (Sessions, 2004) and a compact class car like the Opel/Vauxhall
Astra (Anon., 2004) with its CDC `skyhook' system. The Spyder is claimed to reduce
the variation of dynamic wheel loads by up to 50%, and the Quattroporte is
supposed to have reduced the reaction time to disturbances to 25 ms, though
apparently somehow jeopardising comfort in urban ride (Sessions, 2004).
Initially, the majority of theoretical studies focused its efforts on control policies
applied to idealised systems, like Linear Quadratic or Skyhook strategies, proposed
X. Carrera Akutain, J.M. Carballo, J. Savall and J. Vinolas 2
by Karnopp (Crosby and Karnopp, 1973; Karnopp, 1983; Margolis, 1983; Thompson
and Pearce, 1979). Nevertheless, later studies demonstrated that taking into
consideration the practical constraints of the system does have significant
importance in the final results. In reality, controlled dampers cannot track the
force demand of an idealised model perfectly. A practical system should be based on
the following premises:
*
the time response of the actuator is not immediate
*
the relationship between the damper valve opening rate and the obtained damper
force is highly non-linear
*
the maximum and minimum damping rates are limited
*
existence of friction.
Margolis and Goshtasbpour (1984) studied the possibility of chatter while using the
simplest switchable dampers, also called `on/off' or `two-state'. Some years later, Nell
and Steyn (1998) introduced the damper characterisation and experimentally
measured the time delay of the valve together for an off-road vehicle, making use
of an alternative control strategy to the classical skyhook model. No chatter
appeared because of the introduction of the time lag in the control. Improvements in
the ride and mobility of a heavy military off-road vehicle are also shown by Els and
Holman (1999) for this type of damper.
Crolla et al. (1989) simulated the strong influence of damping constraints,
threshold delay and first order lag in vehicle ride quality in a quarter car model with
on/off dampers and CVDs. He suggested that the threshold delay and time constant
should both remain below 10 ms in order not to compromise the performance
achievable with skyhook control. Results of Hardware in the Loop (HiL) simulations
carried out by Hwang et al. (1998) showed that force following control was necessary
while considering the non-linear damper properties of the CVD as well as a 10 ms lag.
In this situation, the modified skyhook (MSD) algorithm proposed by Besinger et al.
(1995), without force tracking would not be able to produce significant
improvements. Heo et al. (2000) introduced a second order lag in simulations with
different control policies, obtaining promising results in ride comfort without
sacrificing driving safety. Kitching et al. (2000) analysed in detail each component of
a CVD. The damper was shown to have a 30 Hz bandwidth and a total delay of 25 ms
responding to a 10 kN transient force demand. The damper model, which included
valve dynamics and effects due to oil compressibility, suited measured data quite well
within the range 15 Hz. HiL testing resulted in the minimisation of RMS body
accelerations for road data and bump inputs using MSD control. Non-linearity of the
force-velocity relation is often neglected for suspension simulations. Simple mechanistic
models can be used to try to correct deviation, but models based on hydraulic
equations should be introduced for accuracy, with an eye always to computational
cost and the possibility of real-time simulation (Carrera Akutain et al., 2006).
Apart from ride considerations, handling response has also received attention,
with examples like the fully active Lotus Formula 1 explained by Wright and
Williams (1984) and the multibody and road testing developments of Kortu m et al.
(2002) and Valasek (2004), including the influence of the actuator dynamics on the
A stepper motor-driven semi-active variable damper Part 1 3
overall performance of the non-linear extended ground hook control proposed in
1997 (Valasek et al., 1997).
Ivers and Miller (1989) carried out a test rig validation of several simulations in
the late 1980s for a damper with passive, on/off and continuously variable settings. A
damper driven by a stepper motor was claimed to give similar results to ideal
skyhook simulations. Emura and Kakizaki (1994) took a step forward considering
different phase lags in the damping force rise-up due to the valve-stepper motor
transients. They concluded that for a skyhook policy an ordinary controllable
damper (HH-SS) produced a severe degradation of the performance and proposed
the semi-independent damper (HS-SH) as a better alternative. Recently, Bae et al.
(2003) developed a semi-independent variable damper system activated by a 16-step
stepper motor. This system, measuring only body vertical velocity through integration
and applying pure skyhook with FFT for frequency range identification, is claimed
to achieve better attitude control and vibration isolation in bench and driving tests
than the passive system in a broad range of frequencies. Although the authors named
it `Semi-independent type continuously variable damper', in this paper systems
functioning with stepper motors will be named `Discrete-stage variable damper'
(DSVD) from here on, in order to avoid confusion with CVDs.
It has been shown that the practical constraints of the semi-active dampers are
strongly connected to the efficiency of these systems. If a control policy has been
designed in an idealised environment, without taking into consideration these effects,
and later implemented in a real vehicle, probably severe performance degradation
will appear, in respect of the idealised model. Therefore, this matter should not be
neglected. A comprehensive study of the dynamics of the controllable dampers is an
unavoidable step to achieve the desired performance improvement in respect of
passive suspensions.
This paper tries to show the design and development of a prototype DSVD
semi-active damper system for an off-road racing vehicle, emphasising the
experimental issue. The final aim is the design of reliable control strategies and
their implementation on the vehicle. It is necessary to control the instantaneous
damping values of the shock absorbers, which depend on the positions of four
stepper motors. Accordingly, the simulations to develop the control laws must
include the dynamic constraints of the system, and a good positioning of the motors
seems to be unavoidable. In this paper, an effective open-loop control is developed to
move the stepper motors to the desired position, suppressing the positional error of
previous work. Subsequently, a meticulous analysis of the dynamic properties of the
studied stepper motors and their control system is shown in the results and figures
presented. This paper is the result of the necessary first part of a work which
continues with the implementation of different suspension control algorithms
designed taking into account the above mentioned dynamics of the system.
2 Variable damper system
A prototype semi-active suspension has been designed and built for an off-road
sports car. The suspension consists essentially of four electronically controllable
dampers and a control unit. Each shock absorber contains a stepper motor. An ECU
X. Carrera Akutain, J.M. Carballo, J. Savall and J. Vinolas 4
commands four driver circuits, one in charge of each damper. Road tests are more
easily performed with the help of a user-friendly interface in a handheld device. The
outline of the system is presented in Figures 1 and 2. Each component will be given in
further detail.
Figure 1 Outline of the semi-active suspension system
Figure 2 Control system of the stepper motor
A stepper motor-driven semi-active variable damper Part 1 5
2.1 Shock absorber
In the mono-tube variable technology, the same tube is used for extension and
compression strokes. A floating piston produces physical separation between the
hydraulic and gaseous phases. The oil flows between rebound and compression
chambers through a piston connected to the rod of the damper. The reserve chamber
is separated from the compression chamber by the floating piston, mentioned above,
containing gas at around 20 bars (Figure 3). In this DSVD, a stepper motor drives a
valve, which turns concentric to a drilled dipstick, leaving oil passages partially open or
closed. Hence, different damping settings are electronically controllable. Force-velocity
plots for different position settings of the stepper motor are detailed in Figure 4 at a
maximum damper velocity of 950 mm/s. The upper and lower limits of the available
damping force can be observed, as well as the damping force with some intermediate
positions.
Figure 3 Damper chambers
X. Carrera Akutain, J.M. Carballo, J. Savall and J. Vinolas 6
Figure 4 Force-velocity plots of the damper
2.2 Stepper motor
The permanent magnet (PM) stepper motor is an electromechanical incremental
motion device considered for use in high-performance positioning systems. While DC
or AC motors are driven continuously, a stepper motor is generally driven by pulses.
Stepper motors are somewhat similar to reluctance motors, i.e. they depend on the
attraction or repulsion of magnetic structures and derive their torque solely on the
change of reluctance of a magnetic circuit, whereby a conventional motor derives its
torque from the interaction of current carrying conductors with magnetic fields. At
present, many applications related to positioning systems are being implemented
with stepper motors. Although, traditionally, direct-current motors were used in
many applications, and semi-active suspensions for ground vehicles are not an
exception, many authors argue that DC motors are fading away to the benefit of AC
motors. The fact is that DC motors may present a series of disadvantages (Zribi and
Chiasson, 1991) regarding cost, wear and reliability due to brushes. Moreover, unlike
DC motors, PM stepper motors have a 100% duty cycle if detent positions are used,
which do not require excitation. Kenjo describes with precision the functioning of
these devices (Kenjo, 1993). The stepper motor utilised in this work gives a limited
number of steps (17 here) to control the damper, but it is not clear if a DC motor,
with a higher resolution than a stepper motor's step angle, may produce significant
improvements in overall performance.
A stepper motor-driven semi-active variable damper Part 1 7
A sketch of the stepper motor analysed can be observed in Figure 5. The step size
is 7.5

and the minimum holding torque 34 mNm. The motor has a stopper at each
extreme, which are 120

separated, resulting in a total of 17 step positions. The motor

is of the four phase unipolar type, represented in the electric scheme of Figure 6 with
four phases as ABCD. As is well known, each pair of windings forms a `phase'. The
torque direction and position of the motor will be determined by the active phase(s)
at each time point.
Figure 5 Sketch of the stepper motor
Figure 6 Electric scheme
X. Carrera Akutain, J.M. Carballo, J. Savall and J. Vinolas 8
2.3 Driver circuit
The task of the driver circuit is to transmit a sequence of phase excitations to the
phases of the motor. Two-phase excitation produces an oscillatory transient response
more damped than that produced with single-phase, at the expense of a higher power
consumption. The greater the inertia of the rotor, the more is the important result of
the damping. In the case presented here, once its suitability is proven, a single-phase
or WAV mode has been chosen instead of two-phase or half-step for the sake of
management simplicity and power consumption. Each phase commutation or change
equals a single position increment. The stepper motor only `understands' these phase
changes. Therefore, 16 phase changes are necessary to move the motor between
positions 1 and 17, ACBDA or ADBCA if the sense of rotation of the motor is
counter wise (CW) or counter clockwise (CCW).
The inputs of the driver circuit are two TTL signals, called `clock' and `direction'
(Figure 2). The meaning of the latter is obvious and it switches the sense of the phase
commutation between ACBDA and ADBCA. The first one, though, as with other
concepts of stepper motors quoted above, requires a little explanation for a better
interpretation of further graphics and results; the driver circuit converts a high level
of the TTL clock signal into a single phase change of the motor. A pulse train of n
number of peaks will be necessary for n position changes in WAV mode.
2.4 Electronic control unit
An on-board ECU is in charge of sending the necessary TTL signals (clock and
direction) to the four driver circuits (one for each motor). It also commands the
relays of the driver circuits' power input (12 V, `POW DRIVER' in Figure 2) and the
relays that also switch the motors alternately between 12 and 5 V (POW MOTOR).
12 V are used for normal operation mode and 5 V to improve detent torque instead of
0 V. The car battery is the unique power source which supplies power to both 12 and
5 V DC-DC converters. The proposed system requires little power: 16.4 or 2.9 W per
damper, depending on the excitation (12 and 5V respectively). All positions are stable
or `detention' positions. At these positions there is magnetic attraction even without a
power supply (0 V) due to the PM rotor, but the possibility of supplying 5 V has been
preferred to guarantee a minimal torque superior to this detente torque. No overheating
problems are encountered, if an appropriate timing policy is followed between 12 and
5 V. The motor does not withstand a steady 12V excitation. Therefore, periodically
exciting it with 5 V, synchronism maintenance is assured and dielectric perforation risk
reduced. Besides, switching on/off, the driver circuit will have a capital importance in
the open loop control. The specifications of the electronic control unit are:
*
rabbit 3000
1
microprocessor operating at 44.2 MHz
*
512 K static RAM and 512 K flash memory standard
*
36 digital I/O
*
12 analogue channels: eight 11-bit A/D converter inputs, four 12-bit D/A
converter 010 V or 10 V buffered outputs
*
one RJ-45 ethernet port
*
three serial ports.
A stepper motor-driven semi-active variable damper Part 1 9
The ECU lies in a `connection-box', where hardwired sensors are introduced. A
data-logger device receives data in the same manner from this box. The driver circuits
are also driven by hardwires. Although multiplexing and the CAN protocol are
standard in the automotive industry, in this paper it is preferred to link the sensors
and the driver circuits directly to the communication box, due to the experimental
nature of the studied vehicle and in order to ensure reliability and data integrity.
Certainly, working on track tests is hugely facilitated when setting aside the laptop
computer and, instead, making use of more user-friendly devices. A standard PDA
with customised interfaces is utilised in this work, as will be described below.
3 Open-loop control
In this work, step-command pulses are given externally to the driver circuit and it is
expected that the stepping motor is able to follow every pulse. This type of operation
is referred to as an open-loop drive, without expensive feedback loops. Nevertheless,
it must be said first that a closed-loop may help to reduce overshoot and settling
time. Position tracking is improved with the help of position and/or speed feedback
to determine the proper windings to be switched. Additional mechanical/optical
sensors or observation of wave forms of the phase currents are the tools utilised by
many researchers (Chiasson and Novotnak, 1993; Krishnamurty and Khorrami,
2003; Mart nez et al., 1997) to accomplish a more accurate control using feedback
linearisation or fuzzy logic control. Detailed mathematical characterisation of the
electromechanical dynamics of the stepper motors is necessary. Nevertheless, open-loop
drive is attractive and widely accepted. A new reset strategy is explained here, which
will help maintain synchronism in the motion of the motor. It avoids undesired
positioning errors and provides fast and effective position tracking. When working in
an open loop, received orders are incremental, so it is essential to set a well-known
initial position of the stepper motor and to make periodical reset operations, in order
not to accumulate possible drift errors. Some previous work of Bae et al. (2003) tried
to solve this problem by decreasing the PWM duty ratio toward the stopper of the
motor. Results indicated that the rotational angle converged with an error of 1 step
to an arbitrary position. In this paper a different reset strategy is developed. It
guarantees the correct positioning of the stepper motor at its initial state.
3.1 Reset strategy
Firstly, a pulse train of a total of 17 pulses is applied CCW. Consequently the end of
stroke next to position 1 is reached, independently of the initial position of the
motor. Obviously, the motor hits this end stop several times. This first stage is only
an approximation movement. Subsequently, the power supply of the driver circuit is
cut off (point R in Figures 7 and 8) and again restored after 15 ms (point S in the
same figures), giving enough time to the relays to release and again to operate. The
ECU then sends a single pulse to the driver circuit (point T). The fresh-reseted driver
circuit excites the A phase when it receives a high level in the clock input. There are
many `A phases' in the full travel of the stepper motor, but in this manner the A phase
closest to the stopper is activated, therefore the initial position of the motor is known.
Figure 7 shows a move from position 1 to 11 and its subsequent reset to position 1,
X. Carrera Akutain, J.M. Carballo, J. Savall and J. Vinolas 10
including the four phases and the clock signal. The clock signal is 5 V (TTL), and the
voltage of the phases is reduced to almost 6 V. The motor hits its end stop a couple of
times before disconnection and ulterior reconnection. When disconnecting, all the
phases are put to ground. When in operation, the phase put to ground is the active
one. The final position is the same as the first one, and it is clear that the first active
phase is the A phase. Commutation times are slow on purpose for better observation.
In Figure 8 the pulse width has been reduced to 6 ms (3 ms high; 3 ms low) with a
50% duty ratio. Once the motor has been reconnected, the rise-up of the clock signal
(point T, close to 41.57 s in the picture) should force the motor to move. In spite of that,
the clock is left high and a further reset of the driver circuit lets us watch the initialisation
time of the driver circuit until the first phase is activated. This initialisation time takes
around 20 ms between points V and W and must be taken into account.
The reset policy developed is fast, as it needs a total time of less than 100 ms, and
reliable. Its good functioning is proved in Figure 9, where the reset operation is
applied from every single position of the stepper motor.
The user in charge of the tuning of the suspension control policy does not need to
descend to this low level at all to manage the devices. In order to facilitate this work,
the driver circuit is implemented in the compiled code of the ECU. Some applications
for a standard Pocket PC providing user-friendly interfaces have been developed
(see Figure 1 top-left), customisable as far as intended. The PDA communicates with
the ECU via RS-232 port and can switch manually the positions of the motor, as well
as load different control programmes in the ECU.
Once the initial positioning issue is solved, the other main point is the
characterisation of the dynamic response of the motor and the full system.
Figure 7 Reset operation
A stepper motor-driven semi-active variable damper Part 1 11
Figure 8 Detail of reset operation
Figure 9 Movement between reference and each position
X. Carrera Akutain, J.M. Carballo, J. Savall and J. Vinolas 12
4 Dynamic response of the motor
A bandwidth test bench of the stepper motor has yielded interesting results (see
Figure 10). Firstly, a standalone motor has been tested without the above-mentioned
ECU and adding a potentiometer to measure position. The only resistance to motion
is friction of the attached potentiometer, the inertia of the rotor and the small
misalignment of the axle connecting the motor and the potentiometer. A DS1104
dSpace controller board has been the tool chosen in conjunction with MATLAB/
Simulink
1
at a 5 kHz sample rate to control the driver circuit and acquire data at
this stage, the determination of the bandwidth of the motor being the objective of
this test. Several chirp signals have been converted to a train pulse of equivalent
frequency for the `clock' input of the driver circuit to control the position of the
motor. In Figure 11 the amplitude of the chirp signal represents eight positions.
Accordingly, eight pulses are applied between the start and the maximum value of
the chirp (16 positions-pulses peak to peak). The `direction' input is also shown, it
changes the rotation sense of the stepper motor when the sine chirp derivative
crosses zero. Single-step increments show a significant overshoot at low frequency,
which progressively decreases as the step rate is increased. This is due to the fact
that whilst, for a single-step increment, stepper motors behave as a second order
oscillatory system, this oscillation is smaller in the multistep response (Kenjo,
1993). If the motor is turning at a high step rate, no overshoot appears (see
Figure 12, where the motor follows the high frequency order continuously, with
some phase loss). This oscillation could be reduced by applying a back-phasing
technique, which produces a retarding torque slowing down the motor. However,
in this work a constant rate is applied. Thus, dynamically no overshoot will appear,
except in the case of a discrete drive, a unique position increment of a few steps.
Figure 10 Stepper motor and test-bench
A stepper motor-driven semi-active variable damper Part 1 13
Figure 11 Bandwidth test start
Figure 12 Bandwidth test high frequency
X. Carrera Akutain, J.M. Carballo, J. Savall and J. Vinolas 14
4.1 Bandwidth dependance upon input signal amplitude
Different tests have been accomplished for signal amplitudes of one (12.5% of total
travel), two (25%), four (50%) and eight positions (100%) for a motor supply
voltage of 12 and 5 V. A signal of amplitude one (A1) sweeps a travel of two
positions, amplitude 2 (A2) implies a travel of four positions, and so on. It can be
observed in the Bode diagram of Figure 13 how the phase signal for 5 V attenuates
sooner than the 12 V one. There is very little gain attenuation until a crush point is
>reached, due to high-range resonance. For an intermediate sweep of eight positions
(A4, 50%) the 5 V voltage configuration shows a good behaviour between 0 and
11 Hz. Increasing the voltage to 12 V leads to a superior torque and bandwidth
performance (22 Hz), as the magnetic flux, and consequently the torque, increases.
The bandwidth results of this test for different sweeps are shown in Table 1 and the
Bode diagrams of Figures 14 and 15. The little amplification at low frequencies is
due to the fact that the early pulses `push' the motor to precede the chirp signal (see
again Figure 11). This is more evident in the A1 case. The positions of the stepper
motors being always a discrete sequence, it is clear that these are not usual
bandwidth tests. It depends upon the input signal amplitude, which is typical of
non-linear systems.
Figure 13 5 V12 V Bode comparison (A4)
A stepper motor-driven semi-active variable damper Part 1 15
Table 1 Bandwidth results
5 V 12 V
Amplitude A1 (12%) 28.2 Hz 55.0 Hz
Amplitude A2 (25%) 21.4 Hz 43.4 Hz
Amplitude A4 (50%) 11.0 Hz 22.3 Hz
Amplitude A8 (100%) 5.9 Hz 11.4 Hz
Figure 14 Bode diagram 5 V
Subsequently, further time-response tests including the control with the ECU are
performed. From previous tests it was deduced that the motor crushed at 11.4 Hz for
an amplitude of eight positions (A8). As 32 pulses are necessary for a complete
period of the position signal 1-17-1, it results in a pulse period of 2.7 ms. However,
the motor is not able to accelerate from the initial position at this step rate. With this
limitation, a constant pulse width of 4 ms with a 50% duty ratio is chosen for
actuation, although possible bandwidth improvements could be investigated, varying
the pulse period from the initial 4 ms once the motor accelerated. Direction changes
of the motor do not seem to be so much affected, as it was observable in Figure 12,
although it should be noted again that the tests have been carried out with a
standalone motor, without the inertia and damping of the elements present in the
shock absorber.
X. Carrera Akutain, J.M. Carballo, J. Savall and J. Vinolas 16
Figure 15 Bode diagram 12 V
4.2 Transient response
In Figures 16 and 17 the response time to a step input of one and 16 positions is
analysed for a clock pulse width of 4 ms, respectively. As noted above, this single-step
motion produces some overshoot. A delay of nearly 3 ms could be observed between
the control signal (clock) completion and the end of the system response for
Figure 17. The threshold time lag is approximately 2 ms (notice the time elapsing
between the command switch and the motion start). The results of the elapsed time
for different step inputs from one to 16 are detailed in Figure 18 and Table 2, which
suggest quite a linear relationship. The slight non-linearity is mostly due to the
constructive inaccuracy of the motor, as even and odd steps are slightly different, and
to the oscillatory nature of small step rates. Figure 19 shows overlays of single and
multistep increments.
The influence of different lengths of the clock pulse width is also studied.
Although the delay between the control signal and the response of the motor
diminishes with slower clock inputs, obviously it is at the expense of a lower overall
speed. A movement from positions one to 18 for pulses of 4, 6 and 8 ms is presented
in Figure 20 and Table 3.
A stepper motor-driven semi-active variable damper Part 1 17
Figure 16 Single step
Figure 17 16-step increment
X. Carrera Akutain, J.M. Carballo, J. Savall and J. Vinolas 18
Figure 18 Time response for different step increments (pulse width 4 ms)
Table 2 Time response for different increments (pulse width 4 ms)
Step size Time (ms) Step size Time (ms)
12 16.7 110 46.3
13 21.0 111 48.9
14 25.9 112 52.5
15 29.2 113 55.7
16 33.4 114 59.3
17 35.7 115 62.3
18 39.7 116 65.8
19 42.4 117 69
A stepper motor-driven semi-active variable damper Part 1 19
Figure 19 Multistep overlay
Figure 20 Influence of the clock pulse width
X. Carrera Akutain, J.M. Carballo, J. Savall and J. Vinolas 20
Table 3 Time responses for different actuation times (pulse width). Positions 1 to 17
Pulse width (ms) Response time (ms)
4 68
6 100
8 135
4.3 Modelling of the motor
The response to a single-step position increment of Figure 16 allows the identification
of a transfer function for this case. The average self-inductance and stator-circuit
resistance of each phase are respectively L 6:4 mH and r 8, therefore, the time
constant of the motor, defined as L=r, is 0.8 ms. However, the transfer function of a
stepper motor with a single-phase drive does not include this factor, and for a
single-step increment it is expressed as a second order function (Kenjo, 1993).
Gs

!
2
n
s
2
2!
n
s !
2
n
e
Ts
:
The constant T is of 2 ms. Measuring the relative overshoot and the 5% settling time,
the damping ratio and the natural frequency w
n
shown in Table 4 are obtained.
and w
n
have the form of:

D
2J!
n
!
np

2p
2

M
nI
o
J
r
;
being: D viscous damping coefficient which accounts for the presence of air and
friction, and for the second order electromagnetic effects arising from hysteresis and
eddy currents; J inertia of the rotor; p number of poles; n
M
peak flux
linkage produced by the permanent magnet; and I
0
initial current.
Table 4 Transfer function values
w
n
(rad/s) t
s
(ms)
12 609.1 0.2958 16.65
14 213.8 0.5417 25.9
117 48.3 0.905 69
A transfer function could be obtained for each multistep increment. This could lead to
building a parametric model and to apply system identification techniques in order to
make the model match these individual transfer functions. However, computational
economy is capital in real-time simulations. Therefore, the results of this work will be
A stepper motor-driven semi-active variable damper Part 1 21
used for the moment as a look-up table of dynamic delays for subsequent vehicle
simulations. The time required by the system from rest for a n-step discrete motion
will be determined by Table 2. The intermediate positions will be taken into account.
As a first approach, the second order transfer function for the transients will be
neglected. When in continuous motion, increments or decrements of n steps will
require 4n milliseconds.
5 Conclusions and further research
In this paper, an open-loop strategy and the dynamic response of stepper motors for
a semi-active suspension system has been presented. The experimental work
developed enables a comprehensive control of the dynamics of the suspension.
These results lead to the development of more accurate integral suspension
controllers in simulators. A good position tracking is achieved and the proposed
system requires little power. Although stepper motors are considered to be robust
and reliable, the reliability issue should be further analysed. To date, the system is of
a prototype nature, and is focused on the development of controllers.
The introduction of the measured time lag in a seven dof full-car simulator seems
to be the immediate step to fulfil. From a conservative point of view, the position
change of the stepper motor can be delayed with 70 ms, the necessary time for the
system to travel the full range (positions 117). A pulse width of 4 ms yields 7.8 Hz
bandwidth for a wave of amplitude eight, very close to the `crush' of the motor. A
sweep between two adjacent positions can be performed at more than 100 Hz. The
control is further enhanced introducing the required time lag depending on the
magnitude of the position change in the form of a look-up table. In this manner the
loop would be closed virtually. Advanced system identification mentioned above and
investigating potential benefits of feedback control mentioned in Section 5 could also
be interesting. In order to enhance the speed of the system, the option of applying
acceleration techniques like Gated oscillator or RC acceleration and so enable step
rate variations for starting and motion seems to offer potential benefits. Performance
differences between CVDs of several bandwidths and damping span and the actual
DSVD will be also quantified through simulation.
Serious effort is currently being made for a fast implementation of the experimental
data collected here in an off-road vehicle for track testing. An actuation bandwidth
of 8 Hz for 100% duty and 56 Hz for 12.5% could be satisfactory for control sprung
mass vibrations (around 1.5 Hz) and unsprung mass vibrations (around 10 Hz) but it
is still to be examined.
The driver circuit consists of a microcontroller and a number of transistors. A
customised microcontroller may be engaged with the ECU. A more elegant reset
operation could stay among potential advantages, without having to initialise the
driver circuit.
Communications between the PDA and the ECU are also experiencing progress.
This handheld device can be utilised to control other systems apart from the
semi-active suspension, such as a drive-by-wire system. Moreover, adding
intermediate electronics, at present time it can monitor different sensor signals. A
wireless connection will increase the flexibility of the system. In this manner, the
X. Carrera Akutain, J.M. Carballo, J. Savall and J. Vinolas 22
driver will not have to stop the vehicle if the engineers in the pits desire to change
different settings (e.g. control laws, parameters, etc.), or to analyse telemetry data.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the help provided by Enrique Pulido and Elixabete
Bengoechea from CEIT and Inko Elgezua from Tecnun in this process and the
valuable support of this research by APA-Kayaba and particularly by his R&D
manager, Dr Jorge Biera.
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