Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Chris Morgan

Joshua R Auden

Jason D Fahland

James Heath Holbrook

Edward T Heil

David Dominguez

Edmund F Gaffney, Iii

Christopher J Mettrick

Steven A Opiteck

Kevin Irwin

Christopher Archambo

Aditya Muktidoot

A suspension system for a vehicle includes a plurality of air spring assemblies, each having an air spring, and a suspension position sensor; and a controller. The controller is programmed to determine corner forces associated with each air spring of the plurality of air spring assemblies based on a pressure provided by a pressure sensor and an effective area of each air spring of the plurality of air spring assemblies based on a total length provided by the suspension position sensor, according to a target total length of each air spring.

Suspension system and method of control

A vehicle has first and second portions, with a front aerodynamic element located in the first portion and a rear aerodynamic element located in the second portion. The front and rear aerodynamic elements are each independently movable to respective deployment positions between respective stowed positions and respective fully-extended positions. A controller is operatively connected to each of the front and rear aerodynamic elements and has a processor and tangible, non-transitory memory. The controller is programmed to obtain a front target position (T) for the front aerodynamic element at a current time step (n) based at least partially on at least one vehicle state parameter at a previous time-step (n&#x2212;1) and a detected position (D) of the rear aerodynamic element at the previous time-step (n&#x2212;1).

Determination of aerodynamic actuation commands

A method for controlling an active aerodynamic element in a vehicle having road wheels with tires in contact with a road surface includes receiving driver input signals and vehicle kinematics data. The driver input signals correspond to a requested aerodynamic performance operating point. Tire coefficients of friction in the longitudinal and lateral directions are provided to the controller. Desired longitudinal and lateral forces acting on the tires are determined using the input signals, kinematics data, and actual force data. Additionally, a desired total aerodynamic downforce for meeting the aerodynamic performance operating point is determined as a function of the tire forces and coefficients. A position of the aerodynamic element(s) is controlled such that the total aerodynamic downforce is achieved. A system includes the aerodynamic element(s), actuator(s), and controller. A vehicle includes the body, road wheels, active aerodynamic element(s), actuator(s), and controller.

Vehicle with model-based control of an active aerodynamic element

A system is configured to control aerodynamics of a vehicle. The vehicle includes a vehicle body having a front end facing an ambient airflow when the vehicle is in motion relative to a road surface. The system includes an adjustable aerodynamic-aid element mounted to the vehicle body. The system also includes a mechanism configured to vary a position of the adjustable aerodynamic-aid element relative to the vehicle body and thereby control movement of the airflow. The system additionally includes a sensor configured to detect a height of the vehicle body relative to a predetermined reference frame and a controller configured to receive a signal from the sensor indicative of the detected vehicle body height. The controller is also configured to determine a ride-height of the vehicle using the detected vehicle body height and to regulate the mechanism in response to the determined ride-height to control aerodynamics of the vehicle.

Vehicle ride-height determination for control of vehicle aerodynamics

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Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Chris Morgan