Simulation of the Dynamic Behavior of the Magneto-rheological Engine Mount for Automotive Applications

Increasing current vehicle development trends for small, light, front wheel drive vehicles with low idle speeds have been forced automotive industries to use hydraulic engine mounts for further improvement in Vibration, Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) performance of their vehicles. However, with the development of modern vehicle designs such as hybrid vehicles and variable engine management systems which have different operational modes, more sophisticated engine mounting systems are required to effectively response to the each operational mode. The MR engine mount is a semi-active hydraulic engine mount, containing MR fluid, that can alter its dynamic behaviour as a result of applying a magnetic field. In this paper, the modeling of a new semi-active MR engine mount has been conducted. It was shown that by increasing the magnetic field, the dynamic stiffness of the engine mount can be changed.