Vibration Analysis and Control of the Suspension System of the Drum Washing Machine by Applying SMA

Abstract

The suspension system of the drum washing machine is the object of study. To reduce the vibration of drum washing machines during high-speed dehydration, a shape memory alloy is proposed to be used to make suspension spring. The spring stiffness can be controlled according to the characteristic that the elastic modulus of SMA varies with temperature to achieve damping effect. The mathematical model and multi-body dynamics simulation model are established for the suspension system of the drum washing machine, the vibration generation mechanism of the drum washing machine and the SMA active vibration control principle are analyzed, and the vibration control effect of the SMA suspension spring is studied for different speed simulations. The results show that the SMA variable stiffness suspension spring has a significant vibration control effect compared with the spring of general material.