A new paradigm of mechanical energy dissipation. Part 1: Theoretical aspects and practical solutions

Abstract

Although fluid viscosity and speed are still most widely used for dissipating mechanical energy, current research and development on conventional dampers is beginning to saturate; creative design initiatives to obtain higher performance with conventional passive dampers are limited. In order to provide new levels of comfort, reliability, and dissipative power of damping, the present author suggests using the repulsive forces acting within interfaces between capillary-porous solids with high specific surface and non-wetting liquids. When placed in working chambers and subjected to periodical compression-expansion processes, such working media demonstrate pronounced hysteresis phenomena in pressure-volume coordinates, which characterize dissipated energy with specific (volumetric) values 10–100 times greater than that of conventional dampers. Furthermore, it is possible to design a damper where the force may depend insignificantly on the speed of rod displacement (the damping coefficient tending to zero) within a wide range of speed values. In this way, there is a new solution to the ‘comfort-road holding’ trade-off; reliable wheel-road adhesion is possible even for zero damping coefficient (perfect comfort). This new paradigm of mechanical energy dissipation substantially improves damper performance qualitatively and quantitatively and extends its scope of application. The search for such a concept, its thermodynamic substantiation, and practical construction are the main objectives of this paper.