Semi-active vibration control using a rotary magnetorheological damper - experimental verification

From all kinds of vibrations, torsional ones are very important as naturally associated with fundamental rotational drive system motion. The aim of this paper is to present semiactive control of torsional vibrations of the working machine drive systems, which is performed using a rotary damper with the magnetorheological fluid. The main purpose of this research is minimization of vibration amplitudes in order to increase fatigue durability of the most responsible machine elements. The special control strategies are proposed for steady-state torsional vibrations suppression. The semi-active control method is based on a principle of on-line selection of optimum damping coefficient values, which is realized by application of the magnetorheological fluid. The analysis performed in the paper combines experimental verification using the laboratory test rig with theoretical computations. This experiment was designed in the form of the laboratory drive system co-operating with two asynchronous motors generating properly programmed driving and retarding electromagnetic torques.