A novel variable damper using an adjustable energy harvesting structure is proposed for semi-active vibration systems. The fluid flowing in a hydraulic cylinder is employed to drive an electromagnetic generator for harvesting vibration energy, which on the other hand, leads to a damping effect of the hydraulic damper. To make the damping force variable, an adjustable resistor is adopted to tune the capability of energy harvesting. The present approach is validated by both theoretical analysis and experimental evaluation. When connected with different resistance loads, the prototype damper has different equivalent damping coefficients ranging from 3. 987 × 104 to 2. 488 × 105 N· s/m. The results show that the damping force of the damper is variable in response to the adjustable load for the vibration energy harvesting.
