Design and Performance Test of a Compound Torsional Vibration Damper With Parallel Variable Stiffness

Torsional vibration suppression in powertrain systems under complex excitation is a key technology for heavy-duty vehicles. Torsional vibration dampers are currently the most effective torsional vibration control elements. To overcome the inherent contradiction between reducing torsional vibration and transmitting dynamic torque via a traditional torsional vibration damper and improve vibration reduction efficiency, we design a parallel variable stiffness torsional damper (PVSTD) based on the material properties of magnetorheological elastomer (MRE), absorption and isolation theory. The magnetostrictive variable stiffness characteristics of the MREs are explored, the influence law of key performance parameters is analysed, the variable stiffness vibration absorption block and vibration isolation block are matched and designed, and the PVSTD is comprehensively constructed. An PVSTD principle prototype and torsional excitation test bench are built, and the PVSTD frequency shift characteristics and vibration reduction performance are tested. The results show that the PVSTD significantly reduces the torsional vibration of powertrain systems, and the vibration reduction effectiveness of semi-active torsional vibration dampers is significantly better than that of passive dampers during the entire frequency tuning range.