New BWI Control System Cuts Weight by 30%

Braking and chassis systems developer BWI Group recently revealed details on its latest technologies, such as a new compact version of its Active Stabilizer Bar System (ASBS). The revised version reportedly improves handling while reducing system weight by around 30%.

BWI’s ASBS technology splits the conventional stabilizer bar right in the middle. For the new generation system, BWI has also developed a Twin Channel architecture that links the control of front and rear roll stiffness to give real-time control of the vehicle’s tendency to understeer or oversteer.

“Our system allows vehicle manufacturers to adjust the front-rear balance in real time so that the understeer or oversteer characteristics are continuously optimised for the demands of each driving situation,” explains Olivier Raynauld, BWI’s Manager, Forward Engineering Controlled Suspensions.

“This means that the same vehicle can be agile in the city at low speeds, stable on the highway at higher speeds and provide improved stability during lane changing by adapting to help initiate the turn then resisting overshoot afterwards,” he added.

BWI claims that the improvements are so significant that the new system can deal with all the vehicle roll angle and roll velocity inputs, leaving the springs and dampers to deal with just vertical inputs and balance the ride and handling characteristics.

The twin channel approach is suitable for both linear and rotary actuators and will reportedly improve the comfort and stability of most vehicle types including sports cars, luxury cars and SUVs.

The first production application of new generation roll control system is scheduled for 2012.