Braking responses of inertia/load by using an electro-rheological (ER) brake

Abstract

Electro-rheological (ER) actuators are potential devices in modern industrial applications. This is due to the excellent performances of the ER devices such as large output dynamics and fast speeds of responses. By using its fast dynamic responses, the ER device or ER brake is studied as a possible actuator to halt the robot arm rapidly. Although many research studies of the ER brake were conducted in the past, but the details of the ER braking dynamics is not clearly understood. Therefore in this paper, a mathematical model is developed and the modelled results are compared with the experimental output velocity responses of the ER brake. After the model validation is completed, the ER brake is subjected to various loads, electric fields, fluid temperatures and volume fractions. By observing the effect of each input variable, the trend behaviour of the ER braking velocity response is investigated in a bid to identify suitable parameters that can halt the robot arm at the fastest time durations. In addition, the braking displacement responses of the attached loads are examined in order to understand the variations of the load position errors at different input conditions. This study is aimed to establish the fundamental knowledge of using the ER brake in future ER-robotic applications.