Abstract
It is well known that the vibration of washing machines is a challenging issue to be considered. This research work focuses on the optimal design of a flow-mode magneto-rheological (MR) damper that can replace the conventional passive damper for a washing machine. Firstly, rigid mode vibration of the washing machine due to an unbalanced mass is analyzed and an optimal positioning of the suppression system for the washing machine is considered. An MR damper configuration for the washer is then proposed considering available space for the system. The damping force of the MR damper is derived based on the Bingham rheological behavior of the MR fluid. An optimal design problem for the proposed MR brake is then constructed. The optimization is to minimize the damping coefficient of the MR damper while the maximum value of the damping force is kept being greater than a required value. An optimization procedure based on finite element analysis integrated with an optimization tool is employed to obtain optimal geometric dimensions of the MR damper. The optimal solution of the MR damper is then presented with remarkable discussions on its performance. The results are then validated by experimental works. Finally, conclusions on the research work are given and future works for development of the research is figured out.
Highlights
It is well known that the vibration of washing machines is a challenging issue to be considered
In this research, optimal design of a flow-mode MR damper to suppress the vibration of front-loaded washing machines was undertaken
A configuration of the MR damper for the washing machine was proposed, and the damping force was obtained based on the Bingham rheological model of the MR brake
Summary
It is well known that the vibration of washing machines is a challenging issue to be considered. The vibration of the washing machine is mainly due to the unbalanced mass of clothes distributed in the washing drum. The liquid in the balancer moves to the opposite side of unbalance automatically due to the inherent nature of fluids when the rotational speed is higher than the critical speed of the spinning drum [1] Another dynamic balancer that counteracts vibrations is to use two balancing masses. It is noted that during the spinning process, the washing machine usually experiences the first resonance at quite low frequency, around 100 to 200 rpm This results from the resonance of the washing drum due to the unbalanced mass. If a passive damper is used to reduce the vibration of the drum at low frequency, it will cause the vibration of the washing machine at high frequencies more severe. In order to effectively reduce the vibration of the washing machine at low frequency while the vibration of the machine at high frequencies is insignificantly affected, a semi-active suspension system such as a magneto-rheological (MR) damper should be employed
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