A semi-active magnetorheological fluid mechanism with variable stiffness and damping

In this paper a semi-active fluid-mechanism is presented, which offers a variable stiffness and damping by utilizing two magnetorheological fluid valves and two springs. The study incorporates the attributes of variable damping and stiffness into one compact device. A model for the magnetical, rheological, fluidical and mechanical behaviour of the whole system is derived. An experimental setup of the proposed system and an appropriate test bench are built in order to study the variable mechanical impedance behaviour with the corresponding simulations. The results proof that the stiffness of the system can be varied among three different values, while its damping is continuously variable.