The development of semi-active suspensions has introduced Pilot-operated Solenoid Valve Dampers (PSVD) that can adjust damping characteristics for different road conditions while considering stability and comfort. However, the PSVD’s additional control system and valve-controlled components make it challenging to avoid time lag in the response of the damping force when the control current signal is switched. This time lag characteristic significantly impacts the performance of the control system, making it difficult to achieve optimal dynamic performance and potentially compromising the safety of drivers and passengers. As a result, understanding and representing the PSVD time lag characteristics and investigating their influence have become important research areas in the field of semi-active suspension. This article begins by explaining the mechanism behind the generation of PSVD time lag characteristics. It analyzes the structure and operating principle of the PSVD, identifying two main types of time lag: electromagnetic time lag and inertial time lag. To address the limitations of existing simulation models, the study combines parameterization and finite element simulation to create a multi-physics field time lag characteristics kinetic representation model of the PSVD, incorporating the electric, magnetic, mechanical, and fluid aspects. To validate the accuracy of the time lag characteristics simulation model, tests on the velocity and time lag characteristics of the PSVD are conducted. The simulation results are compared to the test results, demonstrating that the maximum error of the lag time meets the engineering confidence requirement. This confirms the feasibility of establishing a simulation model for the PSVD time lag characteristics. Finally, we analyze the PSVD total lag time under different working conditions using the simulation model. It explores the relationship between the PSVD total lag time and the lag time of each component, proposes a lag time decomposition relationship, and investigates the crucial influencing factors on the lag time.

With the advancement of vehicle electrification and intelligence, changes in powertrain system architecture and the addition of battery components have significantly deteriorated vehicle dynamics characteristics. Adjustable damping dampers improve vehicle performance by modifying suspension damping characteristics. Therefore, in this paper, a high-precision multi-dimensional vehicle performance representation model is developed, which includes the dynamics models of the steering and suspension systems and utilizes test results to reflect the constitutive properties of the complex nonlinear structures. The influence regularities of the suspension damping ratio on ride comfort and handling stability are analyzed, and a hybrid control strategy is proposed, which utilizes acceleration-driven damper–Skyhook control logic for vertical control and trigger rule-based control logic for lateral and longitudinal control. Finally, the effectiveness of the control strategy is validated through ride comfort and handling stability tests. The results show that the proposed hybrid control strategy significantly reduces vehicle body vibration acceleration and improves vehicle dynamic response during steering and acceleration/braking conditions.

Due to the complexity of the valve systems in vehicle dampers, the components exhibit synergistic and coupling effects during operation. To comprehensively investigate the interaction mechanisms of critical internal structures within the damper, this paper proposes a finite element modeling method for different operating conditions, and analyzes the dynamic characteristics of the damper. For low-velocity conditions, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is employed for modeling and simulation to investigate the oil flow rule under the throttling effect of orifices only. The length and entrance area of the orifices are found to have a significant impact on the low-velocity damping force. Following the CFD model, a fluid-solid interaction (FSI) model is successively established for the medium- and high-velocity conditions to analyze the interaction between the deflecting valve systems and the oil in the damper. The inner and outer diameters of the valve seat, and the disc valves stiffness are found to have a significant impact on the medium- and high-velocity damping force. The simulation results indicate that the deviation of the damping force is less than 5% and 10% for CFD and FSI models, respectively. During the valve systems opening process to overcome the preload, the flow rate distribution between the valve opening gaps and orifices fundamentally changes, with most of the oil flowing through the valve opening gaps. At this time, a larger deflection occurred in the high pressure region of the disc valves, and the deflection is uniform along the radial direction. The maximum valve opening gaps of the valve systems are all less than 0.5 mm, while the compensation and flow valve systems open earlier and larger than the rebound and compression valve systems, which highlights the sensitivity of the damping force to the stiffness of the disc valves. The modeling method proposed in this paper can be targeted to investigate different velocity conditions of the damper, reducing model complexity while improving simulation efficiency and confidence level, and providing guidance for damper performance design and optimization.