Dynamic and experimental analysis of decoupling simultaneous vibration isolation and energy harvesting for suspension systems

Simultaneous vibration isolation and energy harvesting (SVIEH) have become much attractive in suspension systems for driving safety and energy efficiency. However, vibration isolation and energy harvesting are always conflict in existing structures. In this paper, the idea of vibration absorber is introduced to address this issue from the perspective of energy transfer. Firstly, the limitation of traditional regenerative shock absorbers (RSAs) in suspensions is outlined and the underlying reason is revealed. Then a dual-plane spring is presented to support the Halbach array and form a dynamic vibration absorber. Particularly, the electromagnetic energy harvester replaces the traditional damper. By this way, a novel decoupling SVIEH (D-SVIEH) structure is proposed for suspension systems. A two-degrees-of-freedom (2-DOF) magneto-electromechanical coupling model of the D-SVIEH system is derived and the harmonic balance method is adopted to analytically solve the dimensionless model. Next, numerical simulations are done to investigate the effects of key parameters on the force transmissibility and the average harvested power. In the end, a D-SVIEH prototype is built and experimental tests are carried out. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed D-SVIEH structure can achieve a peak output power in the vibration isolation zone, so it can effectively overcome the conflict between vibration isolation and energy harvesting. Also, the vibration isolation starting frequency of the D-SVIEH structure is less than those of linear and traditional quasi-zero stiffness-based SVIEH structures, so the D-SVIEH structure is more suitable for low-frequency vibrations than the others. The significance of this work is to provide new insights into designing RSAs in suspension systems.