A Study of a New Bidirectional Pressure-Regulating Valve for Hydraulically Interconnected Suspension Systems

Abstract

Due to inevitable inner leakage in hydraulic circuits and structural limits of a hydraulically interconnected suspension (HIS) system, pressure difference between HIS's two independent hydraulic circuits leads to vehicular unbalance under noncornering driving conditions and deteriorates HIS's performance under steering driving conditions. In order to address this problem, a new bidirectional pressure-regulating valve was designed to balance hydraulic pressures in the two HIS's hydraulic circuits under noncornering driving conditions. Moreover, it separates the two hydraulic circuits and enables HIS's antirollover function under cornering driving conditions. Detailed structure and functions of this valve were introduced first. Systematic and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation results show that the gap between the spool and cylinder is of importance to valve's performance. Experimental results validate that the developed valve satisfies all requirements of the HIS. Furthermore, the valve can distinguish steering and nonsteering conditions and enables HIS's function accurately without any pressure shock.