A versatile semi-active magnetorheological inerter with energy harvesting and active control capabilities

Semi-active devices typically adjust the system’s damping coefficient to control vibration, offering advantages such as excellent performance and low power consumption. However, the output force of the traditional variable damping (VD) device can only be opposite to the relative motion direction of the device’s two terminals, which limits the vibration control performance. This paper introduces a versatile semi-active magnetorheological (MR) inerter with three operating modes, the VD, energy harvesting, and active control modes, to break through the performance bottleneck of traditional semi-active devices. The MR inerter combines two MR dampers and a flywheel, acting as the controllable units and energy sink. The built prototype is tested, and its parameters are identified. When the innovative semi-active inerter works with a corresponding control strategy to regulate the current in two MR dampers, it can achieve vibration energy storage and release. The harvested energy can help to reduce the high dependency of the semi-active output force on external inputs. The proposed semi-active inerter has excellent potential in the future applications.