Abstract
This paper presents the development of a semi-active seat damper using MR fluids and the performance analysis of seat suspension system with a MR seat damper. An annular orifice type MR seat damper is proposed for a seat suspension of a commercial vehicle. After formulating the governing equation of motion, then an appropriate size of the seat damper is designed and manufactured. Following the evaluation of field-dependant damping force characteristics, the controllability of the damping force is experimentally demonstrated in time domain by adopting PID controller. A semi-active seat suspension with the proposed MR damper is constructed and its dynamic model is established. Subsequently, vibration control capability of the semi-active suspension system is investigated by employing the sky-hook controller.