Design of an Embedded Control System for a Linear MR Damper Powered by Energy Harvested from Vibrations

The work concerns design and realization of embedded control system (ECS) dedicated to a self-powered vibration reduction system equipped with a magnetorheological damper. Unlike a typical MR damper control system whose electrical circuits are powered from an external energy source, the developed system is powered by energy extracted from a vibrating structure and converted into electrical energy using an electromagnetic harvester. The ECS contains a rectifier, a driver unit, a 32-bit microcontroller, and an internal power supply system which are integrated in an engineered PCB. The sensors (MEMS accelerometers) employed in the control system are powered by DC voltage provided by the ECS. The paper presents the structure, components, and functions of the ECS