A Control Valve Using Ferrite Particle-Dispersed Magneto-Rheological Fluid

Abstract

A simple control valve using a magneto-rheological (MR) fluid was proposed and called the MR valve. The MR valve utilizes the apparent viscosity controllability of the MR fluid in magnetic field and controls high-level fluid power without moving parts. However, conventional MR fluids have high base viscosities to disperse heavy soft iron particles and lose fluid power in pipes. In this study, low base viscosity MR fluid using lightweight ferrite particles was proposed, developed and applied to an MR valve. First, four MR fluids were fabricated with different compositions and the MR fluid to minimize the MR valve was experimentally selected. Second, a small-sized three-port MR valve using a permanent magnet was proposed and the design procedure was theoretically derived. Third, a three-port MR valve was fabricated and the characteristics were experimentally clarified. Also, as an application of the MR valve, a bellows-driven one-link manipulator was fabricated and tested.