Design and performance analysis of a vibration energy harvesting magnetorheological damper

Magnetorheological (MR) dampers have a promising application in vehicle semi-active suspension system, but the direct application of MR dampers in vehicle semi-active suspension system inevitably requires a large amount of electrical energy from the on-board battery and there will be a power failure problem. At the same time, mechanical energy is converted into heat due to the friction between the cylinder and the damper piston of the MR damper. In order to avoid excessive energy waste and realize the self-powered supply of the MR damper to a certain extent, a new vibration energy harvesting MR damper (VEHMRD) is developed in this paper. First, energy harvesting, damping force and self-powered mathematical models are established. Then, the structural parameters of the proposed VEHMRD are designed, and the multi-objective water-cycle algorithm is applied to find out the optimal parameters of the proposed MR damper. Power generation and damping performance are simulated using Comsol software. Finally, a prototype is fabricated, and the power generation, damping force, and self-power ability of the VEHMRD are also tested. The experimental results are also compared with the simulated ones. The results show that the experimental induction voltage is lower than the simulated one with an error of about 15 %. The difference between the experimental damping force and the simulated damping force is small, with an error within 6 %, and the maximum damping force is about 1800 N at an applied current of 1.75A. When the collected electric energy is rectified and supplied to the MR damper, the damping force can reach over 400 N. The developed VEHMRD has a higher vibration energy harvesting capability. When powered by an external power source, the damping performance of the proposed MR damper is good. In addition, it can provide a certain damping force even when self-powered.