Mass Damper Optimization Study to Reduce Seat Vibration

In order to remain competitive in the current challenging automotive industry, there is a great demand for a common design that can be used across different platforms. Such common design can not only lower the cost due to the high volume production, but also significantly reduces the design development time. However, how to meet different programs' unique requirements by the same design remains as a challenge. In the case of a seat design, it is important that the seat natural frequencies are separated from the full vehicle system's resonant frequencies to avoid the possible alignment causing the seat vibration issue. This paper describes a method of how to design a mass damper that not only separates the seat modes from the vehicle's specific resonant frequency range but also reduces the seat back vibration amplitude significantly. The response surface based optimization method is used to tune the elastic mass damper parameters to meet the program's specific requirements. The general characteristics of the system are given in terms of the trade-off curves between the seat frequencies and its vibration amplitudes in longitudinal and lateral directions. The final optimized damper has been verified at the vehicle system level. The real life application demonstrates the effectiveness of a mass damper in reducing the seat vibration amplitude.