Theoretical analysis of regenerative vehicle dampers for characterization of dynamic stability and energy management

In the world of electric vehicles energy recovery is a major concern for improving the mileage. One way of doing this can be recovery of road vibrations through regenerative damping. In this article, we propose a comparative analysis of 2 different types of regenerative dampers. One is Ball-screw damper and the other is Dual clutch rack and pinion damper on the basis of 2 characteristics. Firstly, analysis of impulse response to study the stability and filtration capability. Secondly, power optimization has been done to analyse the energy recovery and dissipation along with riding comfortability for different operational frequencies. The main identification parameter is the internal impedance of energy harvesting circuit. Mathematical analysis followed by simulation suggests that, in case of Dual clutch rack and pinion damper the average bandwidth to impedance ratio is 3.41 hertz-Ω −1 whereas for Ball-screw dampers is 0.22 hertz-Ω −1 . This makes Dual clutch rack and pinion damper a good energy harvester at wider frequency ranges. However, magnitude of energy recovery is higher for Ball-screw damper dampers. The results obtained in this work would motivate other researchers to improve the functionality of both the dampers to enhance the dynamic stability and energy recovery of the vehicle. • Dynamic response of indirect-drive dampers analyzed via impulse response. • Tuning of indirect-drive dampers studied using input impedance as variable. • Power optimization studied via sinusoidal input, considering loss and recovery. • Simulation result shows conditions suitable for using indirect-drive dampers.