MODELING AND OPTIMIZATION OF WASHING MACHINE VIBRATION DYNAMICS

Paper i proceeding, 2008

The paper presents a rigid body model of a front loaded washing machine implemented in MSC.Software/ADAMS. The model has been validated against measurement data to such extent that the model could be used as an efficient virtual instrumentation and graphical system design platform for evaluation of existing and developing suspension concepts of washing machines. A new test rig for experimental study of force-frequency-displacement characteristics of dampers together with measurements performed on a friction damper is presented. Estimation of the parameters of a damper model based in the Bouc-Wen hysteresis is performed using optimization routines. A simulation and optimization environment with the dynamic washing machine model in ADAMS and MATLAB optimization toolbox has been developed for use in a computer cluster. The developed virtual instrumentation and graphical design tool has been used for engineering analysis and optimization of a new 3-strut based suspension concept for washing machines. The analysis of the obtained results has shown the engineering feasibili-ty of the 3-strut based suspension and the solution of the optimal placement of the third strut which minimized the transmitted forces during spinning process was found.