A new energy-harvesting device system for wireless sensors, adaptable to on-site monitoring of MR damper motion

Under extreme service conditions in vehicle suspension systems, some defects exist in the hardening, bodying, and poor temperature stability of magnetorheological (MR) fluid. These defects can cause weak and even invalid performance in the MR fluid damper (MR damper for short). To ensure the effective validity of the practical applicability of the MR damper, one must implement an online state-monitoring sensor to monitor several performance factors, such as acceleration. In this empirical work, we propose a new energy-harvesting device system for the wireless sensor system of an MR damper. The monitoring sensor system consists of several components, such as an energy-harvesting device, energy-management circuit, and wireless sensor node. The electrical energy harvested from the kinetic energy of the MR fluid that flows within the MR damper can be automatically charged and discharged with the help of an energy-management circuit for the wireless sensor node. After verifying good performance from each component, an experimental apparatus is built to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed self-powered wireless sensor system. The measured results of pressure, temperature, and acceleration data within the MR damper clearly demonstrate the practical applicability of monitoring the operating work states of the MR damper when it is subjected to sinusoidal excitation.