Smart fluid damper

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10598248-B2
Application number	US-201715801042-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 1, 2017
Priority date	Nov 1, 2017
Publication date	Mar 24, 2020
Grant date	Mar 24, 2020

Abstract

A smart fluid damper includes a damper body defining a cavity with smart fluid. A piston head is disposed within the cavity and is slidingly displaceable. A flow control element is disposed within the cavity. The flow control element includes a main body having a central core, and an outer housing that surrounds the main body and is spaced apart therefrom to define a fluid passage between the main body and the outer housing. The fluid passage extends axially through the main body to permit fluid flow therethrough. The central core includes an energizable coil operable to apply a field. A plurality of field barriers are provided, each operable to locally block the field generated by the energizable coil such that the field cannot pass directly therethrough. The field barriers are configured to focus the field within the fluid passage.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A smart fluid damper, comprising:
a damper body defining a cavity having a smart fluid stored therein;
a piston having a piston head disposed within the cavity of the damper body and slidingly displaceable therein along a piston axis; and
a flow control element disposed within the cavity of the damper body, the flow control element including a main body having a central core, an outer housing that surrounds the main body and is spaced apart therefrom to define at least one fluid passage between the main body and the outer housing, the fluid passage extending a complete axial length of the main body to permit fluid flow therethrough from one axial side of the flow control element to the other, the central core including an energizable coil operable to generate a field to the smart fluid in the fluid passage, and a plurality of field barriers each operable to locally block the field generated by the energizable coil such that the field cannot pass therethrough, a first group of the field barriers being mounted to the main body of the flow control element and axially spaced-apart along the main body, a second group of the field barriers being mounted to the outer housing of the flow control element across the fluid passage and axially spaced-apart along the outer housing, the first and second groups of the field barriers configured to focus the field within the fluid passage.

2. The damper as defined in claim 1 , wherein the first and second groups of field barriers are disposed in an axially alternating configuration across the fluid passage.

3. The damper as defined in claim 1 , wherein the axially-spaced apart field barriers of the first group of the field barriers each have a unique axial position along the main body, and the axially-spaced apart field barriers of the second group of the field barriers has a unique axial position on the outer housing, the axial positions of the field barriers of the first group being different from the axial positions of the field barriers of the second group.

4. The damper as defined in claim 3 , wherein a first one of the field barriers is disposed on one of the main body and the outer housing, another one of the field barriers being immediately axially adjacent to the first one of the field barriers being disposed on the other of the main body and the outer housing.

5. The damper as defined in claim 3 , wherein an axial distance is defined between the axial position of each field barrier of the first group and the axial position of each field barrier of the second group, the axial distances remaining constant.

6. The damper as defined in claim 1 , wherein the flow control element is stationary within the cavity of the damper body.

7. The damper as defined in claim 6 , wherein the cavity includes a first cavity portion and at least a second cavity portion separate from the first cavity portion, a fluid bridge extending between the first and second cavity portions and providing fluid communication therebetween, the piston head being slidingly displaceable within the first cavity portion and the flow control element being fixedly positioned in the second cavity portion.

8. The damper as defined in claim 1 , wherein the flow control element is displaceable within the cavity of the damper body.

9. The damper as defined in claim 8 , wherein the flow control element is mounted to the piston head and is slidingly displaceable therewith along the piston axis.

10. The damper as defined in claim 1 , wherein the core of the piston body includes a permanent magnet.

11. The damper as defined in claim 1 , wherein at least the core of the piston body is made from a ferromagnetic material.

12. The damper as defined in claim 11 , wherein the ferromagnetic material is AlNiCo.

13. The damper as defined in claim 1 , wherein the smart fluid is a magnetorheological (MR) fluid, the energizable coil being operable to apply a magnetic field to the MR fluid in the fluid passage.

14. The damper as defined in claim 13 , wherein the energizable coil is operable to apply the magnetic field to the MR fluid to permit the MR fluid to flow through the fluid passage in only one direction.

15. The damper as defined in claim 1 , wherein the smart fluid is one of a magnetorheological (MR) fluid and an electrorheological (ER) fluid.

16. The damper as defined in claim 1 , wherein each field barrier has an axial thickness, a width of the fluid passage being measured along a direction transverse to the complete axial length of the main body, the thickness of each barrier being greater than the width of the fluid passage.

17. A method of dampening a movement with a smart fluid damper, the method comprising using a flow control element disposed within a cavity of the damper to apply a field to the smart fluid within a fluid passage extending through the flow control element, and using a number of field barriers disposed within the flow control element and proximate the fluid passage on either side thereof to locally block the field such that the field cannot pass therethrough, the field barriers arranged to cause the field to criss-cross the fluid passage at multiple axial intervals thereby focusing the field within the fluid passage.

18. A magnetorheological (MR) fluid damper comprising a damper body defining therewithin a cavity containing an MR fluid therewithin and a piston having a piston head displaceable within the cavity, and a flow control element disposed within the cavity of the damper body and configured to apply a magnetic field to the MR fluid within a fluid passage axially extending through the flow control element to allow the MR fluid to flow from one side of the flow control element to the other within the cavity, the flow control element having a number of field barriers disposed on either side of the fluid passage, the field barriers operable to locally block and/or divert the magnetic field such that the field cannot pass directly therethrough, the field barriers staggered on either side of the fluid passage to force the magnetic field to criss-cross the fluid passage at multiple axial intervals along the fluid passage thereby focusing the magnetic field within the fluid passage.

Assignees

• Univ Fraser Simon

Inventors

• Naserimojarad Mohammad Mehdi
• Moallem Mehrdad
• Arzanpour Siamak

Classifications

• B62K25/08

  for front wheel · CPC title

• B62K25/10

  for rear wheel · CPC title

• F16F2224/0208

  Alloys · CPC title

• F16F9/532

  Electrorheological [ER] fluid dampers · CPC title

• F16F9/19

  with a single cylinder {and of single-tube type} · CPC title