Application of Magneto Rheological Dampers for Controlling Shock Loading

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Ahmadian ◽  
James C. Poynor ◽  
Jason M. Gooch

Abstract This study will examine the effectiveness of magneto-rheological (MR) dampers for controlling shock dynamics. Using a system that includes a 50-caliber rifle and a magneto-rheological damper, it is experimentally shown that MR dampers can be quite effective in controlling the compromise that commonly exists between shock forces and strokes across the shock absorber mechanism. A series of tests are conducted to demonstrate that different damping forces by the MR damper can result in different shock-force/stroke profiles. The test results further show that MR dampers can be used in a closed-loop system to adjust the shock loading characteristics in a manner that fits the dynamic system constraints and requirements.

2001 ◽  
Vol 8 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 147-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Ahmadian ◽  
James C. Poynor

The application of magneto rheological dampers for controlling recoil dynamics is examined, using a recoil demonstrator that includes a single-shot 50 caliber BMG rifle action and a MR damper. The demonstrator is selected such that it can adequately represent the velocities that commonly occur in weapons with a recoil system, and can be used for collecting data for analyzing the effects of MR dampers on recoil dynamics. The MR damper is designed so that it can work effectively at the large velocities commonly occurring in gun recoil, and also be easily adjusted to reasonably optimize the damper performance for the recoil demonstrator. The test results show that it is indeed possible to design and use MR dampers for recoil applications, which subject the damper to relative velocities far larger than the applications that such dampers have commonly been used for (i.e., vehicle applications). Further, the results indicate that the recoil force increases and the recoil stroke decreases nonlinearly with an increase in the damping force. Also of significance is the fact that the adjustability of MR dampers can be used in a closed-loop system such that the large recoil forces that commonly occur upon firing the gun are avoided and, simultaneously, the recoil stroke is reduced. This study points to the need for several areas of research including establishing the performance capabilities for MR dampers for gun recoil applications in an exact manner, and the potential use of such dampers for a fire out of battery recoil system.


1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Ahmadian

Abstract The design and fabrication of a magneto rheological (MR) damper for bicycle suspension applications is addressed. Two 1998 Judy® Dampers are retrofitted with MR valves, to achieve the damping force adjustability that the MR fluid offers. One design attempts to use as many of the Judy® Damper components as possible. The second design significantly modifies the Judy® Damper, to better accommodate the MR valve and ease of fabrication and assembly, although fitting into the same envelope as the Judy® damper for a direct retrofit. The two MR dampers are fabricated and assembled for force-velocity characterization testing. The test results show that properly-designed MR dampers can provide significant dynamic performance improvements, as compared to conventional passive bicycle dampers.


Author(s):  
Mehdi Ahmadian ◽  
James C. Poynor

This paper will provide a new test procedure for determining the force characteristics of magneto rheological (MR) dampers that are commonly used for vehicle suspensions. Force characteristics of a damper, in this case, refers to establishing the amount of force that the damper can provide at different relative velocities across the two ends of the damper, Force characteristics of a damper, which are commonly presented as a plot of force versus relative velocity—commonly known as force-velocity curve—are established in a shock (or damper) dynamometer in which one end of the damper is kept fixed and the other end is moved in a cyclical manner at a prescribed displacement and frequency. The peak damper force at each velocity is measured and plotted as discrete data points versus relative velocity across the damper. This is a well-understood and commonly used procedure for passive shock absorbers or dampers. For magneto rheological dampers, however, our study shows that such procedures do not necessarily provide an accurate assessment of the force characteristics of MR dampers in all damping conditions. The damping condition of MR dampers can be changed by a small amount of electrical current that can be provided to the damper. The inaccuracies are mainly due to the changing dynamics of the MR fluid inside the damper at different damping conditions. This paper will provide the test results for a MR damper, using the new and the conventional test procedures. The test results indicate that the use of the new test procedure will procedure will allow for an accurate representation of the MR damper force at all velocities, within the range of the currents that the damper is designed for.


2008 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 218-224
Author(s):  
Maguid H.M. Hassan

Smart control devices have gained a wide interest in the seismic research community in recent years. Such interest is triggered by the fact that these devices are capable of adjusting their characteristics and/or properties in order to counter act adverse effects. Magneto-Rheological (MR) dampers have emerged as one of a range of promising smart control devices, being considered for seismic applications. However, the reliability of such devices, as a component within a smart structural control scheme, still pause a viable question. In this paper, the reliability of MR dampers, employed as devices within a smart structural control system, is investigated. An integrated smart control setup is proposed for that purpose. The system comprises a smart controller, which employs a single MR damper to improve the seismic response of a single-degree-of-freedom system. The smart controller, in addition to, a model of the MR damper, is utilized in estimating the damper resistance force available to the system. On the other hand, an inverse dynamics model is utilized in evaluating the required damper resistance force necessary to maintain a predefined displacement pattern. The required and supplied forces are, then, utilized in evaluating the reliability of the MR damper. This is the first in a series of studies that aim to explore the effect of other smart control techniques such as, neural networks and neuro fuzzy controllers, on the reliability of MR dampers.


Author(s):  
Olugbenga M. Anubi ◽  
Carl D. Crane

This paper presents the control design and analysis of a non-linear model of a MacPherson suspension system equipped with a magnetorheological (MR) damper. The model suspension considered incorporates the kinematics of the suspension linkages. An output feedback controller is developed using an ℒ2-gain analysis based on the concept of energy dissipation. The controller is effectively a smooth saturated PID. The performance of the closed-loop system is compared with a purely passive MacPherson suspension system and a semi-active damper, whose damping coefficient is tunned by a Skyhook-Acceleration Driven Damping (SH-ADD) method. Simulation results show that the developed controller outperforms the passive case at both the rattle space, tire hop frequencies and the SH-ADD at tire hop frequency while showing a close performance to the SH-ADD at the rattle space frequency. Time domain simulation results confirmed that the control strategy satisfies the dissipative constraint.


Author(s):  
Mehdi Ahmadian ◽  
Xubin Song

Abstract A non-parametric model for magneto-rheological (MR) dampers is presented. After discussing the merits of parametric and non-parametric models for MR dampers, the test data for a MR damper is used to develop a non-parametric model. The results of the model are compared with the test data to illustrate the accuracy of the model. The comparison shows that the non-parametric model is able to accurately predict the damper force characteristics, including the damper non-linearity and electro-magnetic saturation. It is further shown that the parametric model can be numerically solved more efficiently than the parametric models.


2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Smitha Mani ◽  
Sahjendra N. Singh ◽  
Surya Kiran Parimi ◽  
Woosoon Yim

This brief paper treats the question of adaptive control of a projectile fin using a piezoelectric actuator. The hollow projectile fin is rigid, within which a flexible cantilever beam with a piezoelectric active layer is mounted. The model of the fin-beam system includes the aerodynamic moment, which is a function of angle of attack of the projectile. The rotation angle of the fin is controlled by deforming the flexible beam, which is hinged at the tip of the rigid fin. An adaptive servoregulator is designed for the control of the fin angle using the fin angle and its derivative for feedback. Interestingly, the knowledge of the dimension and parameters of the system is not essenstial for the synthesis of the control law. In the closed-loop system, the fin angle asymptotically converges to the desired set point and the elastic modes converge to their equilibrium values. Computer simulation and laboratory test results are presented to show the performance of the controller.


Author(s):  
R.B. Soujanya ◽  
D.D. Jebaseelan ◽  
S. Kannan

Passenger’s comfort in moving vehicles depends on the quality of the ride. The major cause of discomfort is the vibration transmitted to passengers due to the road irregularities. For a comfortable ride on a vehicle, vibration must stay within prescribed standards. In the present work, an attempt was made to show that, the vibrations can be limited with the use of Magneto-rheological (MR) dampers for varying road profiles than the passive damping methods. MR dampers are semi-active control devices that use MR fluids to produce controllable damping force as they are known to exhibit nonlinear behaviour. Multi body dynamic studies were done to study the response of the system using a quarter car model. In this paper, passive damping (viscous damping) was considered at natural frequency of 1.012Hz, the response of damping was observed after 10s and the acceleration was found to be 6m/s2. When MR damper is employed as the magnetic force increases, the response of the damping was better than the passive damping, at 1.2A it comes down to 0.55m/s2, and the vibration gets dampened after 1.75s. Hence, from this study it is concluded that the MR damper can be employed in automobile for better ride comfort.


2013 ◽  
Vol 361-363 ◽  
pp. 1402-1405
Author(s):  
Zhi Hao Wang

Effective vibration control technology for stay cables is extremely critical to safe operations of cable-stayed bridges. For super-long cables, passive linear damper cannot provide sufficient damping since it can be only optimum for a given mode of cable, while a long cable may vibrate with several modes. This paper focuses on multi-mode vibration control of stay cables with passive magnetorheological (MR) dampers. Firstly, a 21.6m-long model cable was designed and established in the laboratory.Then, control performance of the cable with a passive MR damper was tested. The test results show that modal damping ratios of the cable in the first four modes can be improved significantly with the MR damper. It is further demonstrated that optimal tuned passively operated MR damper can outperform the passive viscous damper.


Author(s):  
Fernando D. Goncalves ◽  
Jeong-Hoi Koo ◽  
Mehdi Ahmadian

This paper offers a method and an experimental example of determining the response time of Magneto-Rheological (MR) dampers. The response time of MR dampers for automotive suspension applications is valuable information because it is one of the key factors that determine the practical effectiveness of the use of MR dampers in vehicles. However, a detailed description of the response time of MR dampers is seldom given in the literature. Furthermore, the methods of computing the response time are not discussed in detail. Therefore, this study intends to develop a method for experimental determination of the response time of MR dampers for automotive suspensions. A triangle wave that maintains a constant velocity across the damper is proposed as the input to use in experiments. This triangle wave ensures a constant velocity across the damper in order to accurately evaluate the response time of the MR damper. The response time was defined as the time required to make the transition from the initial state to 63.2% of the final state, or one time constant. The time constant is a measure of how long it takes a system to respond to a given input. In other words, the response time is the time necessary for the damper to achieve the desired force upon activation. To demonstrate the method, the response time was found for an MR damper particularly designed and fabricated for vehicle applications. Two cases were considered: activation response time of the damper and deactivation response time of the damper. Both cases were studied during the rebound stroke of the damper. It was found that the response time of the MR damper under activation and deactivation was 15.4 ms and 13.9 ms respectively. The results are comparable to those found in the literature.


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