Hydractive

Encyclopedia : H : HY : HYD : Hydractive

Hydractive Suspension is the brand name of a new automotive technology introduced by the French manufacturer Citroen in 1990.

It describes a development of the 1955 Hydropneumatic suspension design using additionaly electronic sensors and driver control of suspension performance. The driver can make the vehicle stiffen (sport mode) or ride in outstanding comfort (soft mode). Sensors in the steering, brakes, suspension, throttle pedal and gearbox to feed information on the car's speed, acceleration, and road conditions to on-board computers. Where appropriate - and within milliseconds - these computers switched an extra pair of suspension spheres in or out of circuit, to allow the car a smooth supple ride in normal circumstances, or greater roll resistance for better handling in corners.

This development was meant to keep Citroen in the forefront of suspension design, given the widespread goal in the auto industry of an Active Suspension system.

All auto suspension is a compromise between comfort and handling. Auto manufacturers try to balance these aims and locate new technologies that offer more of both.

Citroën hydractive suspension was available on several models. Early XM's have the H1 designation which was further refined into a second generation H2 system on later XM's.

The 1992-2002 Xantia had a more advanced version on the high end Activa sub-model of the Xantia, referencing the Activa showcar design study of the same name.

The 2003 Citroën C5 has continued development of Hydractive suspension with the H3 revision. Compared to the earlier H1, and H2 cars, the C5 stays at normal ride height even when the engine is turned off for an extended period, through the use of electronics. The C5 also uses a new, incompatible orange fluid, rather than the familiar green LHM mineral oil used in millions of hydropneumatic vehicles.

External links

• [Suspension and Hydraulics]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.