Design and investigation of a novel magnetorheological brake with coils directly placed on side housings using a separating thin wall

This research focuses on a new design to facilitate the manufacturing and improve performance of magneto-rheological brake (MRB). In this proposed MRB, the coils are directly placed on inner part of the side housing of the MRB and separated with the working MR fluid by a thin wall. The coils are then covered by the outer part of side housing to form a closed magnetic circuit. With this configuration, the coils do not directly contact with the MRF therefore a very small MRF gap size can be archived. In addition, the coils can be assembled and disassembled in the housing without separating the inner parts of the housing out of the disc. This makes a lot of convenience in fabrication, testing and maintenance of the MRB. After a review of MRB development, configuration of the proposed MRB is presented. Braking torque of the proposed MRB is then derived based on Bingham-plastic rheological model of MRF. Based on finite element analysis, optimal design of the proposed MRB is then conducted. The results are then compared with other types of MRB to figure out the advanced performance characteristics of the proposed one. In order to validate simulated results, prototypes of the proposed MRBs are manufactured and experimental works are then conducted.