Design and performance analysis of magnetorheological valve excited by inner and outer coils

Abstract Magnetorheological (MR) valve is a typical smart-control device. Its pressure drop is adjustable, and its response time is within milliseconds. The performance of the MR valve is largely determined by the design of its magnetic circuit structure. In the present structure, increasing the number of series excitation coils was used to improve the performance, which inevitably leads to an increase in the length of the axial flow channel and valve volume. On this basis, a novel MR valve integrated with inner and outer coils was proposed, and the mathematical model of pressure drop was established. The magnetic flow field of the MR valve was simulated using COMSOL software. The dynamic performances of the valve and the valve controlled cylinder system were tested under different excitation modes. The simulated and experimental results all indicate that the proposed MR valve has good pressure drop ability and response characteristics under different excitation modes.