Optimization Design Of The Suspension System In A Drum Type Washing Machine

This paper focuses on an optimization target of reducing the vibration of a drum type washing machine, in order to prolong the life of the core components and avoid an undesirable impact. The impact comes from system dynamics and poorly distributed load inside the drum.The dynamic behavior of a drum type washing machine at a high speed is analyzed by a virtual prototype of suspension system based on multibody systems dynamic method. The model is validated by measuring the displacement of drum motion in the x, y and z-direction. The simulation results are in good consistency with the test results.The sensitivity analysis is investigated in order to achieve the influencing rule of different parameters on vibration of outer tub. Based on ADAMS design research function, this paper presents several optimization results including the spring stiffness, the damping coefficient and the mass and position of counterweight, the ideal results of static and dynamic simulation can be obtained. Two counterweight optimization schemes are compared, and the overall optimization Scheme Ⅱ is established. The vibration amplitude and the mass of counterweight reduce 9.1% and 2.1% respectively.Results show that the rectify deviation of liquid balancer mainly depends on fluid cubage ratio, fluid density and inner and outer diameters. In particular, an automatic counterbalancing model of balls with different torsion damping coefficient is designed for vibration reduction. The parameters affecting the vibration are investigated by the approach of design of experiments. Its optimization results show a good performance compared to a washing machine model without balance balls attached. The displacement peak-to-peak in the x and z-direction reduce 5.79mm and 3.36mm respectively. They can be options and references for the R&D of suspension system.