JIM THEO

What do you think of THIS!
Quite interesting ah?
JIM

NXG

Hmmm, nice. This is what the Prodrive USA site has to say about them:

Active Shock Technology

The Prodrive suspension with Active Shock Technology™ brings fully functioning semi-active suspension technology to the aftermarket. Active Shock adjusts shock stiffness over 1,000 times each second. The Active Shock suspension can range from softer than stock to 10 times stiffer than stock and it adjusts on the fly. The Active Shock system adjusts shock valving 1,000 times per second based on information from sensors monitoring the position, velocity, and acceleration of the suspension components and the lateral and longitudinal movement of the car’s body.

Active Shock’s Ride State Aware™ algorithm continuously adjusts the amount of damping. The Ride State Aware algorithm can predict body and wheel motions before they occur. Active Shock doesn’t just react to bumps, it anticipates them, providing just enough resistance to prevent bottoming regardless of load and ride height. The result is a suspension that provides better than stock levels of comfort during daily drives and 10 times the resistance to bottoming, body roll, squat and dive during performance handling.

Active Shock Features:
· Adjusts suspension performance in real time to provide maximum performance driving capability
· Improves ride comfort during normal driving without sacrificing handling
· Monitors ride conditions and adapts in real time to improve grip and ride quality
· Optimizes understeer/oversteer balance during corner entry and exit
· Improves straight line stability
· Allows the driver to fine tune feel and performance level from the driver seat by selecting Comfort, Sport, or Race settings
· Allows damping to be adjusted for competition without rebuilding strut unit
· Compensates for changes in spring rate or wheel and tire configuration
· Reduces ABS intervention over irregular surfaces
· Handles largest bumps, jumps, and potholes without bottoming

Active Shock Includes:
· Four (4) semi-active, remote reservoir strut units with Eibach springs
· Wiring harness connecting the four struts to master control unit
· Upgraded rear shock mounts
· Ride State Aware Algorithm monitoring and controlling suspension performance
· Optional dash-mounted driver interface unit with integrated display and control panel

Availability: Mid-year 2004

mutant_matt

Hmmmmmm, and the cost is? Keerrching kerching kerching

Matt

vulnax999

iTrader: (7)

This doesn't sound like the ADT suspension ( is that what it was called ? ) that was touted over 6 months ago on here ( SDB interview with the designer etc . )

Seems a new thing.

How does it work - loads of small pumps and reservoirs to adjust the damper, or adjustable valving all remote from some ECU gadget?

Bet it can't be retrofitted for a reasonable price. If it could. I'd have 1!

Tone Loc

iTrader: (1)

Vulnax,

Think your getting mixed up with the ATD system which was active diffs not suspension .

Tony.

JIM THEO

IMHO as Prodrive works with Ohlins for performance applications this system is what Ohlins sell as (almost) active suspension and is fitted from the factory in some new Volvos.
JIM

JIM THEO

>>>www.ohlins.se

johnfelstead

i bet the NSR one rattles when fitted to an STi7.

Not going to be a cheap option i would think. If Prodrive fancy giving me a set to eveluate i would be happy to oblige.

diogenese

How can an onboard ECU possibly be able to "predict" the next bump!

Active suspension is still a bit scary to me, imagine driving along a nice smooth "a" road with gentle sweeping bends, suspension thinks " I think I'll go all stiff"! then you hit a sodding great pothole, what happens then?

johnfelstead

Active suspension, certainly in race car aplications is all about keeping the optimum ride height and the relationship constant between front/rear. This improves aerodynamics and also keeps the suspension geometry within its best performant region. Conventional suspension allows the chasis to move away from its ideal configuration much more.

You will probably find that a large part of the workings of this system rely on conventional technologies, which is why they call it semi-active and not active. With the more fine tuning carried out in seperate valving chambers.

I could be wrong of course but that aproach would make sense to me, i would expect to use this to control only some of the frequency ranges of the damping electronically and use normal valving for other frequency ranges, efectively mimicking something like a 4 or 5 way adjustable damper as used on high end competition cars.

If you want to see how these multi valved dampers work, watch a WRC car land after a big jump, they dont bounce, they soak up the bump and sit flat instantly, thats the effect of low frequency damping being controlled seperately to high frequency. It's the reason modern F1 cars can kerb hop so much too, as they efectively have blow off valves for the low frequncy inputs that allow the suspension to travel quickly in a one off big impact, yet still are able to control the high frequecies of the ridges of the kerbing.

Suspension is where the real technology and speed is these days, it would be great to understand it better.