Method and apparatus for controlling damping of a vehicle suspension

Article of manufacture, comprising a storage medium having a computer algorithm encoded therein for effecting a method to control damping rate of a controllable suspension damper operable to dampen movement between a vehicle chassis and a wheel, the algorithm comprising:

• code to determine vehicle forward velocity;
• code to monitor input from a modal sensing system;
• code to determine parameters for heave, pitch, and roll, based upon the input from the modal sensing system;
• code to determine a common damping rate for the controllable suspension damper based upon the vehicle forward velocity and the determined parameters for heave, pitch, and roll;
• and,
• code to control operation of the controllable suspension damper based upon the common damping rate adjusted based upon a location of the controllable suspension damper.

Method to control damping of a vehicle body using a plurality of controllable suspension dampers, comprising:

• determining vehicle forward velocity;
• monitoring input from a modal sensing system;
• determining parameters for heave, pitch, and roll, based upon the input from the modal sensing system;
• determining a common damping rate for the controllable suspension dampers based upon the vehicle forward velocity and the determined parameters for heave, pitch, and roll;
• and,
• controlling operation of each of the controllable suspension dampers based upon the common damping rate adjusted based upon a location of each of the controllable suspension dampers.

Method to control suspension damping in a vehicle having a plurality of controllable suspension dampers and an acceleration sensing device, comprising:

• monitoring a vehicle forward speed and a steering wheel angle;
• determining parameters for vehicle heave, vehicle pitch, and vehicle roll, based upon input from the acceleration sensing device;
• and,
• simultaneously controlling each of the controllable suspension dampers based upon vehicle forward speed, steering wheel angle, and the determined parameters for vehicle heave, vehicle pitch, and vehicle roll.