Abstract. This paper presents a novel magnetorheological (MR) brake design incorporating a rotary disk with a waveform boundary that generates a resistance force based on the effects of a material deformation process. This force is transmitted from an external agent and creates the necessary energy for breaking the structure of the hardened MR fluid. Its minimum destructive ability is proportional to the variable stiffness of an MR fluid in a magnetic field. In this design, the waveform wall of a rotary disk crushes the particles chains (fibrils) of the MR fluid together instead of breaking them via strain in a conventional MR brake. The resistance forces and braking torques generated by this crush action are stronger than those produced by strain action. To verify our proposed MR brake, the proposed and conventional MR brakes are designed using similar magnetic circuits and material parameters.

We compared the performance of our novel MR brake to the performance of a conventional MR brake, and demonstrated that the measured resistance torque of the proposed MR brake is approximately 600% greater than resistance torques generated by conventional brakes.

Print publication: Issue 11 (November 2009)
Received 22 June 2009, in final form 1 October 2009
Published 16 October 2009