Revolutionary Vehicle Suspension System

Bose engineers took a unique, new approach to suspension design. They have developed a new suspension system which uses Linear Electromagnetic Motors and computers.



Both of these vehicles are performing 'aggressive cornering maneuvers'. The vehicle on left has 'ordinary' suspension and the car on the right has the new Bose suspension system fitted. The car just looks the same as it would driving in a straight line. WOW!

Two vehicles of the same make and model are driven over a bump course at night.

The vehicle on the top has the original factory-installed suspension, and the vehicle on the bottom has the Bose suspension system. Both vehicles are being driven at the same speed.

Link

Interesting stuff. I'm studying electrical engineering so that I can perfect alternative energies for automobiles. This isn't really going hand in hand with that because it uses a lot of power in comparison to a typical unpowered suspension unit, but it's a nice piece of engineering. I took the time to look through the US Patent Office website for those of you who like technical details. Here are the Bose patents directly related to this invention.

Patents:
Wheel damping
Damping with damping mass inside wheel
Electromechanical transducing along path
Wheel assembly suspending
Frictionless motor material testing
Shock absorbing corner impact (presumably)


Or, if you want to look at all of the Bose Corporation patents it's a simple matter as well, there's a lot of interesting acoustic stuff in there since that's what the guy started his career with (and became known worldwide as the best for).

EDIT:
btw, this was on slashdot on the 27th of August.. I guess not everyone reads that though.

[edit on 9/1/2004 by shbaz]