Structural design and performance study of an energy-harvesting damper optimized by multi-objective gray wolf algorithm

In this study, an electromagnetic damper with an external integrated energy harvester is designed to solve the problem of ride comfort and vertical vibration energy recovery in suspension systems.During the structural design of the electromagnetic damper, a multi-objective gray wolf algorithm is employed to optimize the structural parameters of the energy-harvesting device under the constraint of damper dimensions. The Halbach array method is simulated by using a magnetic ring and an axially magnetized permanent magnet ring. A quarter energy-harvesting suspension system is used as the research subject for simulation analysis of ride comfort and energy-harvesting performance. Compared with the traditional suspension, under the B-Class road excitation with a load resistance of 10 Ω, the electromagnetic energy-harvesting suspension system achieved improvements of 14.7%, 25.4%, and 21.7% in the root mean square (RMS) values of the acceleration, suspension dynamic deflection, and tire dynamic load, respectively. Under step road excitation, the RMS values of the acceleration, suspension dynamic deflection, and tire dynamic load improved by 19.0%, 22.7%, and 20.3%, respectively. Ensuring good ride comfort while achieving effective energy harvesting. Finally, a prototype is developed to experimentally verify the energy harvesting characteristics of the damper.