A control system for MR damper-based suspension of front-loaded washing machines featuring magnetic induction coils and phase-lead compensator

Abstract

This paper studies a semi-active control system for magneto-rheological (MR) damper-based suspension of front-loaded washing machines. In this system, a permanent magnet is fastened to the shaft end of a shear-mode MR damper and an induction coil is wound directly on the slots of damper housing. Vibration of the washing machine tube leads to the relative reciprocal movement between the magnet and induction coil, which results in an induction voltage. The induced voltage is then served as an input signal to control the damping force of the MR damper. Because of the MR fluid hysteresis, a phase-lead compensator and an amplifier are employed in the controller of the MR damper. After the controller design, simulations and experiments are performed to evaluate the control system effectiveness. From the experimental results, performance characteristics of the proposed control system are discussed and compared with those of constant current and uncontrolled states.