Design of a frictionless magnetorheological damper with a high dynamic force range

This article discusses an increase in dynamic force range in a spring-damper unit achieved by elimination of sealings' friction. This friction is a part of damping force that cannot be controlled; therefore, it is undesirable in magnetorheological dampers. A new design of a magnetorheological damper with no friction force is described and compared with a traditional magnetorheological damper consisting of a piston and piston rod seals. In the traditional design, fluid is forced to flow by a hydraulic cylinder with high friction caused by sealings. In order to eliminate this friction, a frictionless unit made of metal bellows was designed. Elastic metal bellows can be sealed only by static seals. The measurement of force-velocity dependency was carried out for the original and the new damper with the same magnetorheological valve. The results indicate that the frictionless unit exhibits a significant improvement in the dynamic force range. In the case of adaptive-passive damping control, the increase in the dynamic force range enables the improvement of vibration elimination in the entire frequency range.