Tsuyoshi Koga

A review of design and modeling of magnetorheological valve

Following recent rapid development of researches in utilizing Magnetorheological (MR) fluid, a smart material that can be magnetically controlled to change its apparent viscosity instantaneously, a lot of applications have been established to exploit the benefits and advantages of using the MR fluid. One of the most important applications for MR fluid in devices is the MR valve, where it uses the popular flow or valve mode among the available working modes for MR fluid. As such, MR valve is widely applied in a lot of hydraulic actuation and vibration reduction devices, among them are dampers, actuators and shock absorbers. This paper presents a review on MR valve, discusses on several design configurations and the mathematical modeling for the MR valve. Therefore, this review paper classifies the MR valve based on the coil configuration and geometrical arrangement of the valve, and focusing on four different mathematical models for MR valve: Bingham plastic, Herschel–Bulkley, bi-viscous and Herschel–Bulkley with pre-yield viscosity (HBPV) models for calculating yield stress and pressure drop in the MR valve. Design challenges and opportunities for application of MR fluid and MR valve are also highlighted in this review. Hopefully, this review paper can provide basic knowledge on design and modeling of MR valve, complementing other reviews on MR fluid, its applications and technologies.

A new class of magnetorheological elastomers based on waste tire rubber and the characterization of their properties

This paper proposes a new type of magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) using rubber from waste tires and describes its performance characteristics. In this work, scrap tires were utilized as a primary matrix for the MRE without incorporation of virgin elastomers. The synthesis of the scrap tire based MRE adopted a high-temperature high-pressure sintering technique to achieve the reclaiming of vulcanized rubber. The material properties of the MRE samples were investigated through physical and viscoelastic examinations. The physical tests confirmed several material characteristics - microstructure, magnetic, and thermal properties-while the viscoelastic examination was conducted with a laboratory-made dynamic compression apparatus. It was observed from the viscoelastic examination that the proposed MRE has magnetic-field-dependent properties of the storage modulus, loss modulus, and loss tangent at different excitation frequencies and strain amplitudes. Specifically, the synthesized MRE showed a high zero field modulus, a reasonable MR effect under maximum applied current, and remarkable damping properties.

Development of a modular MR valve using meandering flow path structure

The extensive development of the magnetorheological (MR) valve has successfully introduced a new high-performance compact-class MR valve using a meandering flow path structure. Aside from the performance improvement, in real applications, the ease of performance adjustment also needs to be improved. This study focused on the development of a new design of a modular MR valve using a meandering flow path to improve the adjustability of the valve performance. The approach is proposed based on the high-performance advantages of a meandering flow path structure, while at the same time utilizing the benefit of the modular structure in terms of performance flexibility. In order to evaluate the performance of the modular structure, the analytical assessment was conducted for three different module stages: the single-stage module, the double-stage module, and triple-stage module. To predict the strength of the magnetic field in the effective area, the magnetic simulation was conducted through an open-source software called the FEMM (Finite Element Method Magnetics). The quasi-steady mathematical model of the proposed valve was also derived to conduct the analytical assessment as well as to predict the valve performance. In order to validate the simulation results, the prototypes of the proposed valve are experimentally tested with the aid of the hydraulic cylinder on a dynamic test machine. The results of the MR valve assessment from both the simulation and experimental test demonstrated that the pressure drop rating of the meandering type MR valve can be easily modified using modular structure by changing the number of module stages.

Design of magnetorheological valve using serpentine flux path method

Magnetorheological (MR) valve is widely applied in a lot of applications that utilizes the flow mode, which is one of the working modes available for MR fluid devices. This paper introduces the serpentine flux path method in an MR valve, whereby using this method it can help to increase the effective region of the valve. The magnetic flux is guided into the annular gap of the valve, as the magnetic flux can be weaved by alternating the magnetic and non-magnetic materials. The method is simulated using Finite Element Method Magnetics to see the effects of weaving steps and thicknesses of non-magnetic materials to the magnetic flux distribution and pressure drop change in the valve. The results show that MR effective region can be increased with the serpentine flux path method, and the additional steps and thicknesses of non-magnetic materials help to further increase the pressure drops within the valve.