A Novel Design Concept of a Magnetorheological Fluid-Based Damper Utilizing the Porous Medium for Implementation in Small-Scale Applications

Magnetorheological (MR) dampers have a virtue over conventional dampers, where their damping properties can be adjusted using a magnetic field. However, MR dampers have been barely implemented in small vibratory systems, in which the modal mass and stiffness are relatively small. This is due to two major reasons, namely its high parasitic damping force and big moving mass. When such an MR damper is installed in a small vibratory system, the system‘s default damping ratio is increased and therefore its dynamic is reduced. Here, a new concept of an MR damper utilizing the porous medium and shear operating mode together with an external non-moving electromagnet is proposed. This combination results in an MR damper with a low parasitic damping force and a small moving mass. For comparison purposes, a benchmark MR damper with comparable geometry is constructed. The proposed MR damper possesses a passive friction force that is 8× smaller and OFF-state passive viscous damping that is 10–20× smaller than the benchmark MR damper. An investigation of the proposed MR damper performance in a test vibratory system shows almost no reduction of the system dynamic. Therefore, this proposed MR damper configuration can be suitable for applications in small vibratory systems.