ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses applications of power electronics and motor drives in chassis systems, and it distinguishes three major classes of applications: power converters used in brake systems, power converters used in steering systems, and power converters used in suspension systems. It includes some examples of the dynamic modeling of electromechanical systems used in chassis applications. From the beginning, motor vehicles were equipped with brakes. Traditionally, a brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from the motor vehicle. The conventional solution calls for a vacuum booster to increase the power applied to the disk brakes following pedal action. Suspension is the system of tires, tire air, springs, shock absorbers, or struts that connects a motor vehicle to its wheels and allows a relative motion in between. The electrical motor produces a large torque of around 1,000 N•m to a gear that converts rotation into linear displacement on the vertical direction of the suspension.
