Vibration control in a washing machine by using magnetorheological dampers

The aim of this work is the analysis and design of a control system for vibration and noise reduction in a washing machine. The control system is implemented via a semi-active magnetorheological (MR) damper located on the suspension that links the drum of the machine to the cabinet. The entire design procedure is outlined: first, the semi-active actuator is described and an experimental protocol is proposed and tested on an instrumented machine; two adaptive control strategies then are proposed, designed and tested. The reported results show the effectiveness of the proposed control system.