Continuous force control for dual air spring configuration

1. An active air suspension system comprising:

at least one air spring assembly including a piston airbag and a primary air bag mounted around said piston airbag wherein said piston and primary airbags cooperate to provide a spring force and spring stiffness adjusting device;

a plurality of sensors that measure a plurality of vehicle characteristics, said sensors generating a plurality of sensor signals;

a valve assembly that controls air supply into and out of said air spring assembly; and

a controller receives said sensor signals as inputs, continuously analyzes said inputs to determine an appropriate spring output characteristic including at least a desired spring force and a desired spring stiffness that corresponds to a desired vehicle behavior, and generates an output signal to continuously modify pressure within said air spring assembly to achieve said spring output characteristic.

2. The air suspension system according to claim 1 wherein said controller continuously receives sensor signals as inputs, analyzes the inputs to identify system changes, and continuously and actively adjusts pressure within said air spring assembly in response to identified system changes to maintain said desired spring rate/force in a closed-loop manner.

3. The air suspension system according to claim 2 wherein said controller generates electric control signals to actively control said valve assembly to control air flow into and out of said piston airbag and said primary air bag.

4. The air suspension system according to claim 2 wherein said inputs comprise at least one of hand-wheel angle, yaw rate, lateral acceleration, vehicle wheel speeds, brake pedal activation, or brake pressure.

5. The air suspension system according to claim 2 wherein said inputs comprise hand-wheel angle, yaw rate, lateral acceleration, vehicle wheel speeds, brake pedal activation, and brake pressure.

6. The air suspension system according to claim 2 wherein said controller continuously adjusts spring force and spring rate of each of said air spring assemblies by individually controlling air flow into and out of each piston airbag and each primary airbag.

7. The air suspension system according to claim 1 including a damper mounted to each air spring assembly wherein said controller generates a damper control signal to continuously adjust a damping characteristic in conjunction with adjusting said pressure within said primary and piston airbags to provide said desired vehicle behavior.

8. The air suspension system according to claim 7 wherein said air spring assembly includes a piston mounted to a lower mount, said primary and piston airbags each being attached to said piston, and wherein one of an inner or outer damper structure is directly mounted to said lower mount of said air spring assembly.

9. The air suspension system according to claim 1 wherein said plurality of vehicle characteristics comprises a plurality of driver inputs, a plurality of vehicle inputs, and a plurality of air spring inputs, and wherein said controller continuously adjusts pressure within said primary and piston airbags as needed to provide said desired vehicle behavior in a closed-loop manner.

10. The air suspension system according to claim 1 wherein said at least one air spring assembly comprises a plurality of air spring assemblies each having one primary airbag and one associated piston airbag, said valve assembly comprises a separate valve assembly for each air spring assembly, and wherein said controller actively adjusts pressure within each of said piston and primary airbags in response to the identified system changes to maintain said desired spring force and stiffness in a closed-loop manner.

11. The air suspension system according to claim 10 wherein said controller generates a plurality of control signals to control air supply into and out of each piston air bag and each primary airbag independently of all other piston and primary airbags.

12. The air suspension system according to claim 10 including at least one damper mounted to each air spring assembly, said controller generating a damper control signal to adjust a damping characteristic.

13. The air suspension system according to claim 12 wherein said at least one damper comprises an electrically controlled shock absorber, and said damping characteristic comprises a damping ratio.

14. A method of controlling airflow within an air suspension system comprising the steps of:

(a) providing at least one air spring assembly including a piston airbag and a primary air bag mounted around the piston airbag wherein the piston and primary airbags cooperate to provide a spring force and spring stiffness adjusting device, and providing a valve assembly that controls air supply into and out of the piston airbag;

(b) measuring a plurality of vehicle characteristics with a plurality of sensors and generating a plurality of sensor signals from the plurality of sensors;

(c) receiving the sensor signals as inputs, continuously analyzing the inputs to determine an appropriate spring output characteristic including at least a desired spring force and a desired spring stiffness that corresponds to a desired vehicle behavior, and generating an output signal to continuously modify pressure within the air spring assembly to achieve the spring output characteristic.

15. The method according to claim 14 including continuously receiving sensor input signals from sensors, identifying system changes, and actively and continuously adjusting pressure within at least one of the piston and primary airbags in response to identified system changes to maintain the desired spring rate force in a closed-loop manner.

16. The method according to claim 15 wherein the inputs comprise hand-wheel angle, yaw rate, lateral acceleration, vehicle wheel speeds, brake pedal activation, and brake pressure.

17. The method according to claim 14 including mounting a damper to each air spring assembly and generating a damper control signal to continuously adjust a damping characteristic in conjunction with adjusting the pressure within the primary and piston airbags to provide the desired vehicle behavior.

18. The method according to claim 17 wherein the air spring assembly includes a piston mounted to a lower mount, the primary and piston airbags each being attached to the piston, and including directly mounting one of an inner or outer damper structure to the lower mount of the air spring assembly.

19. The method according to claim 14 wherein step (b) includes measuring a plurality of driver inputs, measuring a plurality of vehicle inputs, and a plurality of air spring inputs, and wherein step (c) includes continuously adjusting pressure within the primary and piston airbags as needed to provide the desired vehicle behavior in a closed-loop manner.