Energy Harvesting and Damping Capability of Quarter-Car Test Bed

Recovering and regenerating power in automotive applications has drawn significant interest recently. A car-suspension system can be modeled as a 2-DOF mass-spring-damper system. Active control used for the car suspension system produces results superior to other methods. In this study, a 3-phase linear generator is used to harvest energy and suppress vibration on a quarter-car suspension setup. The suspension system is analyzed to estimate the harvestable power and damping capability of the generator. Analysis for the generator and its efficiency are presented. Harvestable power of around 105 mW was achieved at a 3.5-Hz input disturbance. The regenerative suspension system can reduce the vibration of the sprung-mass acceleration by up to 22% in an indexed performance. Around 8.4 W used to drive the motor in active control was saved when the regenerative system was used. As a result, much energy can be saved by switching from the active to the energy-harvesting mode. A more efficient system can be designed by matching the mechanical and electromagnetic (EM) damping.