A magnetorheological valve with both annular and radial fluid flow resistancegaps

Abstract

In order to increase the efficiency of magnetorheological (MR) valves, Ai et al (2006)proposed an MR valve simultaneously possessing annular and radial fluid flow resistancechannels with the assumption that the magnetic flux densities at the annular and radialfluid flow gaps are identical. In this paper, an MR valve simultaneously possessing annularand radial fluid flow resistance channels is designed, fabricated, modeled andtested. A model for the developed MR valve is produced and its performancesare theoretically predicted based on the average magnetic flux densities in theannular and radial fluid flow gaps through finite element analysis. The theoreticalresults for the developed MR valve are compared with the experimental results.In addition, the performances of the developed MR valve are theoretically andexperimentally compared with those of the MR valve with only annular fluidflow gaps. It has been shown that the theoretical results match well with theexperimental results. Mainly attributed to the radial fluid flow gaps, the pressure dropsacross the MR valve with both annular and radial fluid flow gaps are larger thanthose across the MR valve with only annular fluid flow gaps for varying valveparameters. The radial fluid flow gaps in the MR valve can reach a higher efficiency andlarger controllable range than those by annular fluid flow gaps to some extent.