An experimental study on a new air-eddy current damper for application in low-frequency accelerometers

This paper discusses the new concept of a hybrid damper for application in low-frequency accelerometers. A hybrid damping structure is proposed in which an air damping principle and an eddy current damping principle are integrated into one damping structure. A prototype of the hybrid damper was fabricated and applied to a low-frequency accelerometer structure. A free-vibration test was conducted on the accelerometer structure in various damping configurations: air-damped, eddy-current-damped and hybrid-damped. The experimental results indicate that the proposed hybrid damper exhibits good damping performance in comparison with single-damped cases while still maintaining their original advantages, such as their low cost, simple structure and nonsealing, nonelectric system. The proposed hybrid damping system will be useful for other small machinery devices in real applications.