A simple pressure control valve using magneto-rheological (MR) fluid is presented, which is called the MR valve. The MR valve utilizes the apparent viscosity controllability of the MR fluid in the magnetic field and controls high-level fluid power wit...
A simple pressure control valve using magneto-rheological (MR) fluid is presented, which is called the MR valve. The MR valve utilizes the apparent viscosity controllability of the MR fluid in the 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 fluids are developed using lightweight ferrite particles and applied to the MR valve. First, four MR fluids are fabricated with different compositions and the basic characteristics. are experimentally investigated with the 2-port MR valve. Second, a small-sized 3-port MR valve using a permanent magnet is proposed and the design procedure is theoretically derived. Third, the 3-port MR valve is fabricated and magnetic field analysis is performed. Furthermore, static and dynamic characteristics of the MR valve are experimentally investigated.