Concurrent Vibration Suppression and Energy Harvesting Using Ferrofluids: An Experimental Investigation

This paper presents an experimental study which examines the design parameters affecting the performance characteristics of a Tuned Magnetic Fluid Damper (TMFD) device designed to concurrently mitigate structural vibrations and harvest vibratory energy. The device which is mounted on a vibrating structure, consists of a rectangular container carrying a magnetized ferrofluid and a pick-up coil wound around the container to enable energy harvesting. Experiments are performed to investigate the three-way interaction between the vibrations of the structure, the sloshing of the fluid, and the harvesting circuit dynamics. In particular, the tuning and optimization is examined for several design parameters including magnetic field spatial distribution and intensity, winding direction, winding location, winding density, and ferrofluid height inside the tank. The experimental response of the device is compared against the conventional TMFD at different excitation levels and frequencies. Results demonstrating the influence of the significant parameters on the relative performance are presented and discussed in terms of vibration suppression and power generation capabilities.