Inventions of SPbGASU Scientists Will Improve Road Safety
Sergey Repin, D.Sc., Professor of the SPbGASU Department of Land Transport and Technological Machines, in collaboration with the Department’s post-graduate student Alexander Voitko and fifth-year students Polina Vasilyeva and Roman Bukirov, has officially registered the computer programmes developed for calculating the characteristics and parameters of a new type of shock absorber: the software registration certificates were issued by the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (No. 2020616445, 2020616785, 2020617545 and 2020617546).
Certificates of state registration of computer programmes «Calculation of speed characteristics and parameters of a shock absorber», «Calculation of vehicle suspension vibrations», «Calculation of the damping characteristics of a pneumohydraulic shock absorber»
Sergey Repin
«The computer programmes provide calculations of the elasticity of the shock absorber and present the characteristics of the damping elements, as well as the summary calculation obtained by solving differential equations,» says Sergey Repin. «The essence of our invention is that the new shock absorber is capable of performing several functions in the vehicle suspension. The task of the suspension is to ensure smooth movement of the vehicle. The suspension contains elastic (springs and bow springs) and damping (directly damping vibrations) elements.
✔ The new shock absorber is capable of performing three functions at once: first, its direct function of vibration damping; second, the function of an elastic element that dampens the dynamic load when hitting an obstacle. The third function is determined by supplementing the suspension with a pneumatic chamber, which provides additional parameters of the suspension. For example, increasing the ground clearance or adjusting the suspension stiffness. Depending on the road unevenness and the load on the vehicle, the shock absorber allows obtaining optimal values of stiffness and damping. In other words, adapting to different operating conditions.»
Methods of mathematical modelling were used for calculating the new shock absorber design. The inventors created several mathematical models describing the operation of the shock absorber, and performed numerical simulations using Mathcad. From the computations it follows that with configuring the parameters of the shock absorber, it is possible to ensure a vehicle’s smooth ride on roads with different properties, the developers note.
The authors reported the results of their invention at the 14th International Conference on Road Safety in Large Cities, which took place at SPbGASU in October. Currently, the invention is being tested at the St. Petersburg shock absorber plant “Plaza”. The prototype has already passed bench tests, and the developers hope their invention will be put into practice. This will contribute to improving the vehicle undercarriage performance in difficult road conditions and, ultimately, will increase road traffic safety.
Text: Elena Shulgina
Photos provided by Sergey Repin
✔ Find out more about the innovative activities and study programmes of the Department of Land Transport and Technological Machines