With over 100 years of hydraulic expertise comes a vast array of knowledge and experience. This includes physical evaluation of ride comfort and characteristics from skilled drivers, technology to predict vehicle behaviour through computer simulations, statistics-based analysis, and more. Now, KYB is using next generation artificial intelligence to quicken and improve the analysis of the huge amounts of data gathered during product development, testing and manufacturing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
We asked the KYB Research and Development team about AI, and some of their other latest technological developments:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
How is KYB using AI Technology for Underlying Shock Absorber Technology Development?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In the field of technology, it is important to sort a huge amount of data and change it to information with technical meaning. To do this, KYB\u2019s Digital Transformation Improvement Department is constructing an IoT platform that uses cloud technology to swiftly, safely, and economically collect, analyse, and visualise huge amounts of data. We are using AI technology as the core of the platform.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n AI is not a magic technology where if we input the data, the user\u2019s required information will come out. AI\u2019s strong point is efficiently and accurately extracting traits from huge amounts data. Therefore, it is necessary to select the data to be input using KYB\u2019s long term experience and expertise. We have learnt to understand the points which require attention in shock absorber stroke volume at rotation direction switchover time and the high frequency area of spring compression \/ expansion during acceleration. From these points, we can use AI to extract the respective features found in steering with \u201cturning vehicle data\u201d and road grip with \u201crunning over uneven surface data\u201d.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Tell us about KYB\u2019s Prosmooth<\/strong>TM<\/sup><\/strong> and Hydraulic Fluid Additive Adjustment Technology?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Our team performed driving experiments with up to 600 different combinations of oil and components to gather huge amounts of data, alongside the evaluation reports of our skilled testing engineers. We prepared shock absorber hydraulic fluid and sliding parts with different characteristics, exchanging components a huge number of times, physically evaluating vehicles in response to customer tastes and requirements.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The difference between the physical evaluation and actual vehicle behaviour was analysed to determine the relationship between bench test evaluations, individual component evaluations, and element evaluations. We determined the main cause of frictional characteristics that influence ride feel, which led the way for the launch of KYB ProsmoothTM<\/sup>. Internal shock absorber friction is controlled by using newly developed materials for sliding parts, and variable hydraulic fluid additive adjustment technology. This product delivers both a luxurious ride and superb cornering.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The improved ride, road feel and traction combination was originally used by the KYB Motorsports Department, where it raised performance of the racing shock absorbers. The introduction of KYB\u2019s AI technology will mean we can test even more, gathering and analysing more data points quicker and more accurately, giving our engineers the insight to improve this cutting-edge product even more.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n What future trends is KYB seeing from vehicle manufacturers?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The huge numbers of SUVs and the rise of autonomous driving and electric vehicles are pushing vehicle manufacturers to change what they think about shock absorbers. For many vehicle manufacturers, comfort is now becoming the priority. In addition to this, weight reduction is not as important as it was some years ago, due to increased vehicle efficiency and the number of vehicles that are now either fully electric or equipped with hybrid technology. For electric vehicles, suspension size is also a factor, due to the size and position of the batteries, as seen in the recent collaboration up between KYB and REE to create in-wheel suspension.
For the more basic vehicle segment we can foresee the implementation of passive additional systems as ADC (frequency dependent systems) and hydraulic stops (Progressive Hydraulic Cushions), KYB\u2019s recent award-winning development with PSA. For medium segments the trend would be to use variable damping in simple configurations (2 damping laws selected automatically or manually or similar) and for higher segments systems like KYB Intelligent Damping Control would be the trend with 1 valve or 2 valves (top segments), combined with road scanning technology, as seen on KYB\u2019s recent OE development with Lexus, Toyota and PSA.
The next step is active suspension, although mass implementation of this technology is not imminent. This active suspension provides many different functions including vibration control, posture control that reduces body roll, dive and squat, steering characteristics control and body height control for maximum aerodynamic efficiency.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"