Design and Analysis of Magneto-Rheological Fluid Brake (MRB)

Abstract

Magneto-rheological fluids are smart fluids displaying flow properties that can be adjusted by the introduction of magnetic fields. Conventional brakes require complex mechanical parts to dissipate energy, they are having more weight, produce less braking torque and the time of response is about 300-500 milliseconds and hence brake distance is high. A Magneto-rheological fluid brake is more efficient than conventional braking system in terms of the weight reduction, and response time. In this paper an improved MRB design is made, taking into account the temperature effects and more accurate description of the material properties as well. The proposed work is concerned with the development of a new Brake-by-wire system which employs MRF as working medium. The design procedure comprises the selection of materials for MRB, creating an analytical model for finding the braking torque produced by the MRB and Finite Element Analysis of the MRB. Finite element models are built to provide a means to analyze the performance of the magneto-rheological brake system. The formulation of these models (including the definition of the geometry, material properties, boundary conditions and meshing process, as well as necessary assumptions) are described. The results obtained with the finite element models are presented and analyzed using SolidWorks 2013® and COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3b®.