Heating of Magnetorheological Fluid Dampers

Abstract

This paper presents experimental and theoretical studies on heat generation and dissipation of fieldcontrollable, magneto-rheological (MR) fluid shock absorbers. Since MR fluid dampers are energy-dissipating devices, the issues of heat generation and dissipation are important. In this study, experiments are conducted on a variety of MR fluid dampers that have been designed, developed, and tested at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), for specific applications. Each MR fluid damper is experimentally evaluated for temperature changes that result from various types of sinusoidal input motions. In addition a theoretical model is developed which predicts the temperature increase of the MR fluid dampers. This model is solved numerically, and is compared with experimental results. Also, a non-dimensional form of the governing equations is developed to assess the effect of physical parameters on the heat dissipation as well as heat generation within the MR fluid damper. Moreover, the theoretical results for temperature rise of a MR fluid damper under a seismic force are presented. In all cases, the temperature effect on the damping force is significant.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Breese, D. G. and Gordaninejad, F. , 1999, "Heating of Magneto-Rheological Fluid Dampers: A Theoretical Study," Smart Systems for Bridges, Structures, and Highways, Proceedings of the 1999 SPIE Conference on Smart Materials and Structures, Vol. 3671, pp. 2-10.

Breese, D. G., 1999, "Heating of Magneto-Rheological (MR) Fluid Dampers and Development of MR Fluid Bicycle Shock Absorbers," M.S. Thesis, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Nevada, Reno.

Carlson, D. J. , Weiss, K. D. , 1994

"A Growing Attraction to Magnetic Fluids."

Machine Design, pp.61-64.

Cengel, Y. A. , 1998, Heat Transfer: A Practical Approach, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.

Demchuk, S. A. , 1993, "Heat Transfer in Narrow Gaps Filled with Magnetorheological Suspensions," Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, pp. 312-314.

Ericksen, E. O., 1999, "Study of Magneto-Rheological Fluid Dampers and Development of a MR Fluid Shock Absorber for a Motorcycle," M.S. Thesis, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Nevada, Reno.

Gordaninejad, F. and Breese, D., 2000, "Magneto-Rheological Fluid Dampers," U.S. patent no. 6,019,201.

Kordonsky, W. , 1993, "Elements and Devices Based on Magnetorheological Effect." Journal of Material Systems and Structures, pp. 65-69.

Kordonsky, W. I. , Gorodkin, S. P. and Demchuck, S. A. , 1993, "Magnetorheological Control of Heat Transfer," Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 36, p. 2783-2788.

10.

Makris, N. , Roussos, Y. , Whitaker, A. S. , Kelly, J. M. , 1997, "Viscous Heating of Fluid Dampers during Seismic and Wind Excitations-Analytical Solutions and Design Formulae," Technical Report UCB/EERC-97/1 1, UC Berkeley.