Design of magneto-rheological brake for optimum dimension

Abstract

Online control of braking performance of magneto-rheological (MR) brake by bridling the apparent viscosity of MR fluid and by amending magnetic field is considered as an effective and smart option to replace the conventional disc brake. The magnetic field procreated by electromagnet in MR brake is reliant on dimensions and material properties of MR brake (casing, rotor and MR fluid region). Extensive works have been reported on enhancing the magnetic properties of MR fluid to achieve maximum braking performance; however, scarce works are available that reflects that the dimensions of MR brake influence the braking performance. Prior works on MR brakes focus on designing for meticulous outer dimensions of brakes, and thus, their results find little utility to a new designer. Therefore, the objective of the present work is to propose a methodology to determine the dimension of MR brake for a given outer dimensions, which shall provide maximum braking performance. The, braking performance is evaluated by assessing the effective torque and brake density. Magneto-static analysis using ANSYS is employed for determining the magnetic field in the MR region, and thereafter, the braking torque is calculated. From the obtained results, curve fit equations are proposed to estimate the values of (i) MR brake casing thickness, (ii) height of the MR brake to rotor, (iii) thickness of core, and (iv) thickness of MR fluid region, for achieving maximum torque. To validate the proposed methodology, MR brake with two different electromagnets and rotors is developed. The static performance of MR brake is evaluated by measuring the braking torque for different currents using a torque wrench and the dynamic performance of the MR brakes is performed on an MR brake test setup. The dynamic performance is evaluated by measuring viscous torque. Finally, the comparisons of the theoretical and experimental results are performed and the obtained results are presented.