US 6,279,700 B1Granted

Magnetorheological fluid damper

AssigneeDelphi Technologies, Inc.

InventorsIlya Lisenker, Patrick Neil Hopkins, Thomas Allen Baudendistel, Michael Leslie Oliver

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Abstract

A magnetorheological fluid damper is provided which permits effective control of damping while minimizing assembly size and costs by including a thin-walled insert in a flow gap formed between a flux ring and a piston body. The insert may include a thin-walled tubular insert having a generally smooth cylindrical shape for increasing the shear surface area. Alternatively, a corrugated insert may be provided having corrugations formed by edges extending axially along the insert. The corrugations may be formed in a variety of locations, sizes, shapes and spacings along the axial extent of the insert and the circumference of the insert. The corrugations advantageously effectively align the insert within the flow gap and also function to securely connect the flux ring to the piston body without the use of other devices such as plates thereby reducing the size and cost of the assembly.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A damper, comprising:

a cylinder containing a magnetorheological fluid;
a piston mounted for reciprocal movement in said cylinder to form a first chamber positioned on one side of said piston and a second chamber positioned on an opposite side of said piston, said piston including a flow gap extending between said first and said second chambers;
a magnet assembly mounted on said piston to generate a magnetic field extending through said flow gap;
and
at least one thin-walled insert positioned in said flow gap to form a first flow gap section on one side of said thin-walled insert and a second flow gap section on an opposite side of said thin-walled insert,
wherein said thin-walled insert includes corrugations, is formed of a nonmagnetic material and includes at least a first surface facing said first flow gap section to generate shear stress on the magnetorheological fluid flowing through said first flow gap section and a second surface facing said second flow gap section to generate shear stress on the magnetorheological fluid flowing through said second flow gap section.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.