Skyhook Control of a Mixed Mode Magnetorheological Fluid Mount

Magnetorheological (MR) fluid mounts have their own advantages over the hydraulic mounts because they can provide extra damping and stiffness due to the MR effect. Many papers contribute to the control of MR fluid dampers, while very few papers focus on the control of MR mounts. This paper investigated skyhook control for a mixed mode MR fluid mount. The MR fluid mount can operate in two working modes: flow mode and squeeze mode. The skyhook control algorithms were developed and studied for the flow mode and squeeze mode separately and simultaneously. Simulation results show that the skyhook control can significantly reduce the resonance peak and achieve the lowest transmissibility in the whole working frequency range of the mount. When flow mode and squeeze mode are activated and controlled at the same time, the effect of squeeze mode is more obvious than that of the flow mode.