
Active Power Stabilizer Suspension System (APSSS), is an electric
active suspension An active suspension is a type of automotive suspension on a vehicle. It uses an onboard system to control the vertical movement of the vehicle's wheels relative to the chassis or vehicle body rather than the passive suspension provided by large sp ...
system with
active anti-roll bars developed by
Toyota Motor Corporation
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 m ...
for its high-end vehicles including
Lexus
is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...
models. By altering
stabilizer bar
An anti-roll bar (roll bar, anti-sway bar, sway bar, stabilizer bar) is a part of many automobile suspensions that helps reduce the body roll of a vehicle during fast cornering or over road irregularities. It connects opposite (left/right) wheels ...
stiffness, this system acts to reduce body tilt during cornering, keeping the vehicle more level during turns and improving handling, as opposed to the natural tendency of a vehicle to roll due to the lateral forces experienced during high-speed maneuvering. The active stabilizer system relies on vehicle body sensors and electric motors. The first production usage of this system was introduced in August 2005 with the
Lexus GS430 sport sedan, followed by the 2008
Lexus LS 600h luxury sedan. The development of APSSS is claimed to be the world's first electric active stabilizer system. It is a system improvement of an earlier Toyota technology called Toyota TEMS (
Toyota Electronic Modulated Suspension).
How it works
The APSSS utilizes sensors for
steering wheel
A steering wheel (also called a driving wheel (UK), a hand wheel, or simply wheel) is a type of steering control in vehicles.
Steering wheels are used in most modern land vehicles, including all mass-production automobiles, buses, light and ...
speed,
steering angle, along with yaw and
acceleration
In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magnitude and direction). The orientation of an object's acceleration is given by ...
/
deceleration
In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magnitude and direction). The orientation of an object's acceleration is given by the ...
sensors.
[ These sensors are tied to an ]electronic control unit
An electronic control unit (ECU), also known as an electronic control module (ECM), is an embedded system in automotive electronics that controls one or more of the electrical systems or subsystems in a car or other motor vehicle.
Modern vehic ...
(ECU), which in turn connects with actuator
An actuator is a component of a machine that is responsible for moving and controlling a mechanism or system, for example by opening a valve. In simple terms, it is a "mover".
An actuator requires a control device (controlled by control signal) a ...
s consisting of 46V DC brushless motors and reduction mechanisms.[
] Mounted with the vehicle suspension
Suspension or suspended may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Suspension (topology), in mathematics
* Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics
* Suspension of a ring, in mathematics
* Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspen ...
stabilizer bars, each reduction mechanism houses a wave generator, flexible gear
A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic p ...
, and circular gear.
The system is activated when the vehicle enters a high-speed turn, and the sensors register vertical, longitudinal, and transverse forces which contribute to body lean and additional movements. Along with steering data, these are sent to the ECU where they are processed, with the forces necessary to counteract body roll movements calculated.[
] Corrective instructions are then sent to the suspension motors and reduction mechanisms. The reduction mechanism gears activate to adjust suspension rigidity, torquing the stabilizer bars and thus increasing sway resistance and reducing body roll movements.[ Developed jointly with ]Aisin
is a Japanese corporation that develops and produces components and systems for the automotive industry. Aisin is a Fortune Global 500 company, ranked 359 rankings. Aisin is a member of the Toyota Group of companies.
Aisin was founded in 1965 ...
, APSSS engineers found that compared with prior hydraulically actuated active suspension systems, which rely on hydraulic
Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...
servomechanism
In control engineering a servomechanism, usually shortened to servo, is an automatic device that uses error-sensing negative feedback to correct the action of a mechanism. On displacement-controlled applications, it usually includes a built-in e ...
s, the electric APSSS offered a faster response time (within 20 milliseconds) and reduced energy consumption characteristics.[
]
Vehicles
Vehicles that have offered Active Power Stabilizer Suspension System (APSSS) to date, listed by model year
The model year (sometimes abbreviated "MY") is a method of describing the version of a product which has been produced over multiple years. The model year may or may not be the same as the calendar year in which the product was manufactured.
...
(system was offered as an option):
*2006 Lexus GS 350
*2006 Lexus GS 430
*2006 Lexus GS 450h
The is an executive car sold by Lexus, the premium division of Toyota. The same car had been launched in 1991 as the Toyota Aristo in Japan. For non-Japanese markets, it was released as the Lexus GS in February 1993. It continued using the Toy ...
*2008 Lexus GS 460
*2008 Lexus LS 600h
*2008 Lexus LS 600h L
The Lexus LS (XF40) is the fourth generation of the Lexus LS line of full-size luxury sedans. Lexus debuted the model line at the 2006 North American International Auto Show, with variants including the standard wheelbase LS 460 (USF40) and l ...
*2010 Lexus RX 450h
*2013 Lexus LS 600h F SPORT Active Stabiliser System
See also
* Active suspension An active suspension is a type of automotive suspension on a vehicle. It uses an onboard system to control the vertical movement of the vehicle's wheels relative to the chassis or vehicle body rather than the passive suspension provided by large sp ...
* Height adjustable suspension
* Lexus Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS)
* Self-levelling suspension Self-levelling refers to an automobile suspension system that maintains a constant ride height of the vehicle above the road, regardless of load.
Purpose
Many vehicle systems on a conventional vehicle are negatively affected by the change in att ...
* Toyota TEMS
References
External links
Lexus Active Stabilizer Suspension System
{{Lexus cars
Lexus
Toyota
Automotive suspension technologies
Automotive technology tradenames