Design and development of a novel displacement differential self-induced magnetorheological damper

This article presents the development of a novel magnetorheological damper which has a self-sensing ability. In this study, a linear variable differential sensor, which was based on the electromagnetic induction mechanism, was integrated with a conventional magnetorheological damper. The working principle, configuration, and prototype of the displacement differential self-induced magnetorheological damper based on the integrated linear variable differential sensor technology were presented. A mathematical model of the proposed displacement differential self-induced magnetorheological damper was established. The finite element model was built with two-dimensional Maxwell software and the magnetic simulations were presented. With this approach, the influence of the flux leakage, the winding cylinder in different basic values of structure parameters, and materials were determined to obtain an optimal displacement differential self-induced magnetorheological damper. Finally, the dynamic performance of the displacement differential self-induced magnetorheological damper was evaluated with a fatigue test machine. The experimental results indicated that the developed displacement differential self-induced magnetorheological damper based on the integrated linear variable differential sensor technology can output controllable damping force and displacement relative self-induced voltages simultaneously.