Design and performance analysis of magnetorheological valve module with annular-radial concept

Abstract

In this study, a new design of magnetorheological (MR) valve module using annular-radial gaps concept are developed to improve the design flexibility and manufacturability towards commercialization process. In commercial perspective, a product with flexible performance capacity is sometimes more preferable than a high performance product but with fixed specifications since frequent design resizing can be inefficient in terms of manufacturing process. This paper proposes a new design of a compact MR valve using annular-radial concept as an effort to enhance the performance of an MR valve while at the same time improving the easiness of performance range and the simplicity of manufacturing process using a fully modular valve structure. In order to evaluate the valve performance, the conceptual design module MR valve, the proposed design is evaluated in terms of pressure drop characteristics with respect to the magnetic field strength and current input in the perspective of module performance. The simulation results have shown that the proposed design has successfully improved the achievable pressure drop with additional advantage in performance flexibility through modular valve concept.