Principle, modeling, and validation of a relative displacement self-sensing magnetorheological damper

In this paper, a novel method to make MR dampers self-sensing based on the electromagnetic induction and the working principle of an electromagnetic integrated relative displacement sensor (IRDS) integrated into a commercial available MR damper are presented. The IRDS mainly comprises an exciting coil wound on the piston head and an induction coil wound on the nonmagnetic cylinder, which is covered by a cylindrical cover made from the materials with high magnetic permeability. In this way, a novel relative displacement self-sensing MR damper (SSMRD) comprising an IRDS and an MR damper is developed. In order to validate and optimize the performance of the IRDS and the SSMRD, the modeling and analyzing with the finite element mathod based on ANSYS are carried out and the simulation results are presented.