Designing and analyzing the efficiency of seat’s three vibration isolator modes in improving the driver’s comfort

This study proposes three vibration isolator modes of the seat designed by horizontal-parallel isolator (HPI), vertical-parallel isolator (VPI), and negative-stiffness isolator (NSI) for improving the vehicle seat’s comfort. The influence of the dynamic parameters of three vibration isolator models is then analyzed based on their three dynamic models. Their dynamic parameters have been then optimised for comparing the isolation performance of HPI, VPI, and NSI based on root-mean-square (RMS) accelerations in the vertical, pitch, and roll directions of the driver’s seat. Research shows that driver comfort has been insignificantly affected by dimensions whereas driver comfort has been greatly affected by dynamic parameters of three vibration isolator modes. Based on the optimized parameters of HPI, VPI, and NSI, the vertical comfort of the driver with the NSI has been improved better than that of both the HPI and VPI, conversely, the pitch comfort and roll comfort of the driver with the VPI has been improved better than that of both the HPI and NSI. In order to improve the comfort of the driver in three directions, the VPI should be combined with the NSI to design the seat isolator of vehicles.