Li-Jun Qian

Integrated semi-active seat suspension for both longitudinal and vertical vibration isolation

“Functional integration” is to integrate two or multiple systems or mechanisms that are independent with each other and to realize the two or multiple functions using only one actuation system. Maximization of engineering applications of actuation systems could be achieved through the use of the “functional integration” concept-based structural design. In this article, an integrated semi-active seat suspension, mainly composed of a switching mechanism, a transmission amplification mechanism, and a damping force- or torque-controllable rotary magnetorheological (MR) damper working in pure shear mode, for both longitudinal and vertical vibration attenuation, is proposed, designed, and fabricated. The switching mechanism employs the parallelogram frames as a motion guide which keeps the seat moving longitudinally and vertically. Both longitudinal and vertical motions are transformed into a reciprocating rotary motion that is transmitted to the rotary MR damper after an amplification by a gear mechanism. The torque generated by the MR damper can be tuned by adapting the applied current in real time, and hence, effective two-dimensional vibration control of the seat could be realized. The mathematical model of the semi-active seat suspension system is established, and vibration isolation performance of the system is simulated and analyzed. Based on the established experimental test rig, the prototype of the semi-active seat suspension system is tested, and the results of the mathematical model and the experimental test are compared.

A magneto-rheological fluid mount featuring squeeze mode: analysis and testing

This paper presents a mathematical model for a new semi-active vehicle engine mount utilizing magneto-rheological (MR) fluids in squeeze mode (MR mount in short) and validates the model by comparing analysis results with experimental tests. The proposed MR mount is mainly comprised of a frame for installation, a main rubber, a squeeze plate and a bobbin for coil winding. When the magnetic fields on, MR effect occurs in the upper gap between the squeeze plate and the bobbin, and the dynamic stiffness can be controlled by tuning the applied currents. Employing Bingham model and flow properties between parallel plates of MR fluids, a mathematical model for the squeeze type of MR mount is formulated with consideration of the fluid inertia, MR effect and hysteresis property. The field-dependent dynamic stiffness of the MR mount is then analyzed using the established mathematical model. Subsequently, in order to validate the mathematical model, an appropriate size of MR mount is fabricated and tested. The field-dependent force and dynamic stiffness of the proposed MR mount are evaluated and compared between the model and experimental tests in both time and frequency domains to verify the model efficiency. In addition, it is shown that both the damping property and the stiffness property of the proposed MR mount can be simultaneously controlled.

Magnetorheological fluid behavior in high-frequency oscillatory squeeze mode: Experimental tests and modelling

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the behavior of magnetorheological (MR)fluids in high-frequency oscillatory squeeze mode and proposes a mathematical model to reveal the MR mechanism. A specific MR squeeze structure avoiding the cavitationeffect is designed for the experimental tests. The magnetic field- and gap distance-dependent damping force of the MR squeeze structure is presented and compared with the dramatically large damping force under quasi-static excitations, a moderate damping force is observed at high frequencies. Subsequently, in order to interpret the behavior of MR fluids at high frequencies, employing the continuum media theory, a mathematical model is established with consideration of the fluid inertia and hysteresis property. The damping force comparison between the model and experimental tests indicates that in high-frequency oscillatory squeeze mode, the squeeze-strengthen effect does not work and the shear yield stress can be applied well to characterize the flow property of MR fluids. In addition, the hysteresis property has a significant influence on the damping performance.

Principle, modeling, and control of a magnetorheological elastomer dynamic vibration absorber for powertrain mount systems of automobiles

This article proposes and validates the principle of a new magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) dynamic vibration absorber (DVA) for powertrain mount systems of automobiles. The MRE DVA consists of a vibration absorption unit and a passive vibration isolation unit. The vibration absorption unit composed of a magnetic conductor, a shearing sleeve, a bobbin core, an electromagnetic coil, and a circular cylindrical MRE is utilized to absorb the vibration energy, and the passive vibration isolation unit is used to support the powertrain. The finite element method is employed to validate the electromagnetic circuit of the MRE DVA and obtain the electromagnetic characteristics. The theoretical frequency-shift principle is analyzed via the established constitutive equations of the circular cylindrical MRE In order to demonstrate how the parameters of the MRE influence the vibration attenuation performance, the MRE DVA is applied to a powertrain mount system to replace the conventional passive mount. The frequency-shift property of the vibration absorption unit and the vibration attenuation performance of the MRE DVA on the powertrain mount system are experimentally tested. To validate and improve the vibration attenuation performance for the semi-active powertrain mount systems, an optimal variable step algorithm is proposed for the MRE DVA and numerical experiments are carried out.

Modeling and experimental verification of frequency-, amplitude-, and magneto-dependent viscoelasticity of magnetorheological elastomers

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs), a smart composite, exhibit dual characteristics of both MR materials and particle reinforced composites, i.e., the viscoelasticity of MREs depends on external magnetic field as well as strain amplitude and excitation frequency. In this article, the principle of a frequency-, amplitude-, and magneto-dependent linear dynamic viscoelastic model for isotropic MREs is proposed and investigated. The viscoelasticity of MREs is divided into frequency- and amplitude-dependent mechanical viscoelasticity and frequency-, amplitude-, and magneto-dependent magnetic viscoelasticity. Based on the microstructures of ferrous particles and matrix, the relationships between mechanical shear modulus corresponding to the mechanical viscoelasticity and strain amplitude and excitation frequency are obtained. The relationships between magnetic shear modulus corresponding to the magnetic viscoelasticity with strain amplitude, excitation frequency, and further external magnetic field are derived using the magneto-elastic theory. The influence of magnetic saturation on the MR effect is also considered. The dynamic characteristics of a fabricated isotropic MRE sample under different strain amplitudes, excitation frequencies and external magnetic fields are tested. The parameters of the proposed model are identified with the experimental data and the theoretical expressions of shear storage modulus and shear loss modulus of the MRE sample are obtained. In the light of the theoretical expressions, the loss factors of the MRE sample under different loading conditions are analyzed and compared with the test results to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Design and Control of a Magnetorheological Elastomer Dynamic Vibration Absorber for Powertrain Mount Systems of Automobiles

The principle of a magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) dynamic vibration absorber (DVA) is proposed and the corresponding configuration is designed in this paper. The MRE DVA is composed of a vibration absorbing unit and a passive vibration isolation unit. The vibration absorbing unit can be utilized to mitigate the kinetic energy acting on the primary system (i.e., the system of which the vibration will be mitigated) and the passive vibration isolation unit utilized to support the primary system. The vibration absorbing unit consists of magnetic conductor, shearing sleeve, bobbin core, electromagnetic coil winding, and vulcanized MRE between the shearing sleeve and the bobbin core. The magnetic field produced by the electromagnetic coil winding starts from the bobbin core, and passes through the magnetic conductor and the shearing sleeve, then goes through the MRE and forms a closed loop. The shear storage modulus of the MRE could be tuned continuously by varying the applied current, which results in natural frequency shift of the MRE DVA. The optimal parameters of the electromagnetic circuit of the MRE DVA are calculated based on Kirchoff’s law. The finite element method is employed to validate the electromagnetic circuit of the MRE DVA and to obtain the corresponding electromagnetic characteristics. The mathematical model of the MRE DVA is also derived. In order to analyze how the parameters of the MRE DVA influence the effectiveness of the vibration control and to validate the flexibility of the control systems, the MRE DVA is employed in a powertrain mount system to replace the conventional passive mount. A single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) dynamic model for the semi-active powertrain mount system is established. A varied step optimum algorithm is adopted to realize the vibration control of the powertrain mount system based on the MRE DVA.Copyright

Velocity-dependent characteristics of magnetorheological fluids in squeeze mode considering the hydrodynamic and the magnetic field interactions

This work presents an experimental investigation on the behavior of magnetorheological (MR) fluids in squeeze mode and a theoretical analysis of its MR mechanism. Relative to the well-known large normal stress in squeeze mode, the exciting velocity-dependent characteristics and the normal stress variation tendency of MR fluids are emphasized. The characteristics of MR fluids are tested under displacement-control and force-control modes. It is shown from the tests that along with the exciting velocity, the tensile stress shows an increasing tendency before saturation, but the compressive stress exhibits a decreasing tendency. In addition, under force-control mode (10 N/s) test, after the initial elastic deformation the elastic-plastic deformation occurs instead of plastic flow. As a consequence, in order to fully understand the exciting velocity-dependent characteristics of MR fluids in squeeze mode, a new concept considering both the hydrodynamic interaction between the particles and continuous phase and ...

State observation–based control algorithm for dynamic vibration absorbing systems featuring magnetorheological elastomers: Principle and analysis

Based on state observation, a rapid, stable, and effective control algorithm for magnetorheological elastomer (MRE)–based dynamic vibration absorbers (DVAs) applied to automobile powertrain mount systems is proposed and investigated in this article. The state-space model for powertrain mount systems with MRE-based DVAs is established using the rank criterion method for observable systems. According to the principle of system reconfiguration, a full state observation model using an adaptive Kalman filter with Sage–Husa noise estimator is developed. With the state vectors estimated by the Kalman filter, the phase difference between the displacement of the dynamic mass of the MRE-based DVA relative to the powertrain and the absolute displacement of the powertrain is updated continuously based on Simpson’s rule. By adjusting the applied current to the MRE-based DVA with fuzzy logic control corresponding to the cosine value of the phase difference, the natural frequency of the MRE-based DVA could track the excitation frequency of the powertrain well, which results in vibration attenuation of the powertrain mount system. With consideration of excitation noise, time delays, and parametric uncertainties, the simulation experiments of vibration attenuation performance of the MRE-based DVA for the powertrain mount systems when under time-varying excitation are carried out to verify the effectiveness and the stability of the proposed algorithm with fuzzy steps. The simulation results show that when using the proposed algorithm with fuzzy steps, the MRE-based DVA could attenuate the powertrain vibration rapidly and effectively, and the vibration attenuation performance will not be influenced by noise, time delays, and parametric uncertainties.

Design and Analysis of a Magnetorheological Fluid Mount Featuring Uni-Directional Squeeze Mode

A magnetorheological fluid (MRF) mount featuring unidirectional squeeze mode for vehicle engine mounting system is proposed and designed to attenuate the engine vibration with characteristics of broadband and small amplitude. The MRF mount is comprised of upper and lower bases for installation, a main rubber for static load, a bobbin for electromagnetic coil winding and a squeeze plate. The bottom surface of the bobbin and the top surface of the squeeze plate form the polar plates, between which the MRF is squeezed during the rebound of the MRF mount. Combining dynamic stiffness property of passive hydraulic mounts without fluid and adjustable damping force of MRF at squeeze mode, the MRF mount could provide a unique variable dynamic stiffness and damping properties, by adjusting the exciting current. To evaluate the performance of the MRF mount, a mathematical model considering the behavior of MRF at squeeze mode is derived to theoretically analyze and numerically simulate the dynamic stiffness and equivalent damping properties of the MRF mount. Further, the MRF mount based quarter vehicle mounting system model considering suspension system is constructed to analyze the force transmissibility of engine mounting system in frequency domain and simulate the relative displacement response in time domain.Copyright

“Shape function + memory mechanism”: based hysteresis modeling of magnetorheological fluid actuators

A hysteresis model based on “shape function + memory mechanism” is presented and its feasibility is verified through modeling the hysteresis behavior of a magnetorheological (MR) damper. A hysteresis phenomenon in resistor-capacitor (RC) circuit is first presented and analyzed. In the hysteresis model, the “memory mechanism” originating from the charging and discharging processes of the RC circuit is constructed by adopting a virtual displacement variable and updating laws for the reference points. The “shape function” is achieved and generalized from analytical solutions of the simple semi-linear Duhem model. Using the approach, the memory mechanism reveals the essence of specific Duhem model and the general shape function provides a direct and clear means to fit the hysteresis loop. In the frame of the structure of a “Restructured phenomenological model”, the original hysteresis operator, i.e., the Bouc-Wen operator, is replaced with the new hysteresis operator. The comparative work with the Bouc-Wen operator based model demonstrates superior performances of high computational efficiency and comparable accuracy of the new hysteresis operator-based model.