During the last two decades, attempts have been made by researchers to build integrated suspension/generation unit that can replace conventional fluid shock absorbers in vehicles. However, heavier weight is limiting commercial application of the present systems. This paper presents design and analysis of an efficient energy harvesting hydraulic electromagnetic shock absorber with least weight penalty on the vehicle. The conceived shock absorber uses mechanical amplification and linear generator along with displacement sensitive fluid damper. Prototype linear generator operating with velocity amplification improves harvested voltage to 660%. Full scale model of the presented system will harvest peak energy of 176-227 J for suspension velocities of 0.25-0.40m/sec. Finite element analysis in ANSYS is used to derive optimum generator dimensions. Numerical model of the present system with fluid and electromagnetic damping has been constructed in Matlab Simscape. Inductive voltage drop and harvesting threshold voltage are found to contribute nonlinearity of the electromagnetic damping force. Quarter car model constructed in Matlab is used to evaluate motion transmissibility, acceleration transmissibility, and wheel motion. Satisfactory performance of the system is confidently validated with experimentations performed on a scaled-down prototype.
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