Implemetation of Mechanical Motion Amplifier in Hybrid Shock Absorber with Linear Generator and Fluid Damper

Abstract

Commercial implementation of present design of electromagnetic shock absorbers with electric generator is not feasible due to heavier weight. Design and analysis of a novel energy harvesting shock absorber has been disclosed that comprises of mechanical motion amplification, linear generator and displacement sensitive fluid damping has been presented in the paper. The linkage mechanism used in the shock absorber can achieve significant motion amplification in the generator relative velocity without affecting the system inertia. Theoretical study of the linear generator is supported with experimentation on a reduced scale model consisting rare earth magnets. Finite element and theoretical simulation analysis has been performed, which indicates significant improvement in harvesting efficiency, braking effect on the coils and smoothness of the damping force as compared to the earlier reported devices. Finally, comfort and handling evaluation with numerical simulation of the quarter car model proves applicability of presented work.