Characteristics Analyses of Innovative Crank-Lever Electromagnetic Damper for Suspension System of an Off-Road Vehicle

In this article performance of the innovative Crank-Lever Electromagnetic Damper (CLEMD) for an off-road vehicle suspension system is analyzed. To determine the characteristic behavior of the CLEMD, the damping force it provides on the suspension system is varied by changing the values of the damping coefficient in the simulations. Various parameters considered in the analyses include power regenerated, voltage, current, comfort, road-holding, etc. The behavior of all the parameters of the CLEMD is observed for an off-road vehicle by carrying out simulations on country roads since the off-road vehicles are subjected to higher road irregularities and hence provide an opportunity to regenerate a higher amount of power. A two-dimensional (2-D) model of a vehicle developed in SimMechanics is interfaced with a Simulink model of CLEMDs for the analyses. This device allows not only to recover energy while damping the relative motion between the car body and unsuspended masses but also to tune the damping coefficient to alter the response of the vehicle in terms of heave and pitch dynamics. The tuning of CLEMDs was changed to show the trade-off between the power regenerated, comfort, and road-holding. A cost function analysis is carried out to determine the optimum values of the damping coefficient. Also various characteristics including cyclical characteristics of the CLEMD are studied, which are useful for further developments in Electromagnetic Dampers (EMDs).