Abstract:

This paper reviews the developing history and advances in key components and the systems of automotive air suspension. Advanced technologies and researches in air spring, hydraulic damper or spring / damper strut, conventional air suspension, electronically controlled air suspension (ECAS) and air suspension for cabin and seat are introduced and analyzed in detail. The current core problems, technical obstacles in the development of the Chinese automotive air suspension are summarized, and the suggestion is proposed for current and future researches and development in this field, which includes the following aspects: The efforts to develop and use complex air springs with auxiliary chamber or internally-integrated height control valve need to be strengthened to improve the performance of anti in service fatigue; The efforts to develop active hydraulic dampers and active spring/damper modules need to be strengthened so that the independent product categories and standards are established as soon as possible to promote mass production and application; The
independent development of air suspension should be persisted to gather experience with innovation and to cut the cost of time and money effectively; For ECAS technology, beside strengthening the efforts to develop key components and to improve vehicle dynamics control performance, the ability of fast designing and matching ECAS for different vehicles should be improved, and the accumulation of the fault modes and the diagnose experience also should be strengthen in components and system so that the reliability and safety of ECAS under complex in service situations can be improved.

Key words: automotive structural system, automotive component, air suspension, air spring, hydraulic damper, spring / damper strut, electronically controlled air suspension (ECAS)