Apparatus and method for controlling damping force characteristic of vehicular shock absorber

摘要

In an apparatus and method for controlling damping force characteristics of respective vehicular shock absorbers, a control signal V is generated according to a state in which a steering system is operated, the control signal being converted to a drive signal to be input to damping force characteristic changing member (stepping motor and adjuster) so that the damping force characteristic of the corresponding one of the shock absorbers is changed to a desired damping force characteristic. The control signal is a signal synthesized with a bounce rate signal based on a vertical sprung mass velocity signal, a roll rate signal determined on the basis of a difference between both right and left vertical sprung mass velocity signals, a roll rate (displacement) signal determined on the basis of the difference described above, a steering angular displacement signal, and a steering angular velocity signal at a predetermined rate of distribution eta . The predetermined rate of distribution (signal systhesis) is varied according to a vehicle speed.