Optimal design of magnetorheological valves via a finite element method considering control energy and a time constant

This study presents an optimal design for magnetorheological (MR) valves for minimizing the control energy to be applied to coils to control the pressure drop of the valves. The optimization problem identifies parameters such as applied current, coil wire size and geometric dimensions of the valves which satisfy the specified pressure drop and inductive time constant requirements. After describing the configuration of MR valves, their pressure drops are obtained on the basis of the Bingham model of MR fluid. Then, the control energy which is an objective function and the inductive time constant are derived. Subsequently, an optimization procedure using a golden-section algorithm and a local quadratic fitting technique is constructed via a commercial finite element method parametric design language. Using the optimization tool developed in this study, optimal MR valve configurations are identified, which are constrained to a specific cylindrical volume defined by its radius and height. In addition, optimization results for MR valves with different required pressure drops and different constrained volumes are obtained and presented.

[1]  S. J. Lin,et al.  A Dynamic Model of the Flapper-Nozzle Component of an Electrohydraulic Servovalve , 1989 .

[2]  William Kordonski,et al.  Magnetorheological Throttle Valve in Passive Damping Systems , 1998 .

[3]  N. Wereley,et al.  Nondimensional analysis of semi-active electrorheological and magnetorheological dampers using approximate parallel plate models , 1998 .

[4]  Seung-Bok Choi,et al.  Comparison of Field-Controlled Characteristics between ER and MR Clutches , 1999 .

[5]  Seung-bok Choi,et al.  Control and Response Characteristics of a Magneto-Rheological Fluid Damper for Passenger Vehicles , 2000 .

[6]  Norman M. Wereley,et al.  Design of a High-Efficiency Magnetorheological Valve , 2002 .

[7]  Walid H. El-Aouar.  Finite Element Analysis Based Modeling of Magneto Rheological Dampers , 2002 .

[8]  Jaehwan Kim,et al.  VIBRATION CONTROL OF A PASSENGER VEHICLE FEATURING MAGNETORHEOLOGICAL ENGINE MOUNTS , 2003 .

[9]  Norman M. Wereley,et al.  Nondimensional Damping Analysis of Flow-Mode Magnetorheological and Electrorheological Dampers , 2003 .

[10]  H. Du,et al.  Finite Element Analysis and Simulation Evaluation of a Magnetorheological Valve , 2003 .

[11]  Nicholas C. Rosenfeld,et al.  Volume-constrained optimization of magnetorheological and electrorheological valves and dampers , 2004 .

[12]  D. H. Wang,et al.  Design and Modeling of a Magnetorheological Valve with Both Annular and Radial Flow Paths , 2006 .

[13]  Seung-bok Choi,et al.  Geometry optimization of MR valves constrained in a specific volume using the finite element method , 2007 .