A Concept of a Miniaturized MR Clutch Utilizing MR Fluid in Squeeze Mode

Abstract

This paper presents a novel design concept of a miniaturized Magneto-Rheological (MR) clutch. The design uses a set of spur gears as a means to control the torque. MR clutches with various configurations such as disk-, drum-, and armature-based have in the past been reported in the literature. However, to the best of our knowledge, the design of a clutch with spur gears to use MR fluid in squeeze mode is a novel concept that has never been reported previously.After a brief description of the MR clutch principles, the details of the mechanical design of the spur gear MR clutch are discussed. The distribution of the magnetic flux inside the MR clutch is studied using finite element analysis in COMSOL Multiphysics software. Preliminary experimental results using a prototype MR clutch that validates the new concept and the results therein will be presented next. To clearly show the performance of the proposed design, we compared the torque capacity of our MR clutch obtained experimentally with that of a simulated disk-type MR clutch of a similar size.