Abstract
In this paper, we developed a hybrid magnetorheological transmission for flow balance control of total artificial hearts. The transmission consists of input and output shafts, magnetorheological fluid, permanent magnets, and an electromagnet with adjustable current. A motor rotates the input shaft of the transmission. The transmission transfers the torque to the output shaft that rotates with decelerated rotational speed according to the apparent viscosity of the magnetorheological fluid. In this study, a downsized model was designed by modifying the magnet arrangement and adjusting the dimensions, resulting in a 33% reduction in thickness and a 39% reduction in weight. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed transmission achieved the target speed reduction ratio of 0.9 with the power consumption of 0.65 W. Furthermore, the transmission ratio successfully tracked the target speed reduction ratio by PI control scheme.
