Advanced seating comfort: suppression of vibration using multi-mode piezoelectric shunt damping

The transmission of seat structural vibration to the human body contributes to vibration discomfort particularly near the resonant frequencies (> 10 Hz). The conventional methods of controlling vehicle seat vibration may no longer be used on lightweight seat structures efficiently. Here, a new control method derived from multi-mode shunt damping using piezoelectric patches is proposed and is implemented on a vehicle seat to suppress the transmission of seat vibration to the occupant’s body by controlling the seat foam vibration. The results indicate that the proposed method is effective for controlling seat vibration at the resonant frequencies of the seat. The application of the piezoelectric shunt damping system holds some promise for the future development of lightweight vehicle seats with enhanced ride comfort.