Development and control of an active torsional vibration damper for vehicle powertrains

Abstract

The emission regulations on internal combustion engines (ICEs) have become more stringent and the importance of fuel efficiency has enhanced due to environmental pollution concerns. As a result, studies on optimization of ICEs put forward the consideration of downsizing, downspeeding and turbo supercharging concepts in designing modern ICEs and powertrains. Despite their numerous advantages, they result in boosted engine torsional vibrations which demands innovative vibration isolation solutions. Such a design solution should be uncomplicated and simple from an automotive manufacturer's point of view, meanwhile, be an extreme performer besides being a cost-effective solution. Passive and active dampers have been utilized to suppress torsional vibrations in the literature. At this point, the passive dampers appear more preferable at the first sight due to their cost advantage while active systems have the disadvantages of having higher costs due to the presence of actuators, sensors and peripherals, advanced complexity and potential of lower efficiency. But conventional passive torsional vibration damper systems like dual-mass flywheel (DMF) reached their limits and they are no longer able to sufficiently isolate the torsional vibrations of the state-of-the-art ICEs. Also, as seen in the literature survey section, there is no kind of active dampers for torsional vibrations which is equipped alone or proposed to be used in this context for vehicle powertrains and there is a huge demand for a new design solution to beat the performance constraints of passive isolation systems.