MagnetoRheological dampers for mass and energy sensitive applications

MagnetoRheological (MR) dampers have been used as reliable electronically adjustable shock and motion control devices in the past few years. Although these dampers have proven their performance in practice and the cost has decreased, their usage has been limited to high-end applications. The main drawback of MR dampers is their relatively large weight and energy consumption when compared to their passive counterparts. In this thesis, we investigate factors affecting weight and energy consumption of MR dampers and devise solutions to achieve energy-efficient and light-weight dampers. To this end, an analytic approach is presented to design and build a low-energy consumption and lightweight MR damper. It is shown that the proposed configuration can decrease the mass of MR damper significantly and reduce the energy consumption when AlNiCo alloys are utilized in the magnetic core. A proof-of-concept MR damper for mountain bike applications is designed, fabricated, characterized, and tested in the field, which meets the requirements in mountain bike industry in terms of energy consumption, compression and rebound forces, mass, size, and on-the-fly adjustability of the damping forces, by the user.