Electrorheological Valve

摘要

An ER fluid valve includes a housing and a plurality of parallel flow passages through the housing each defined by spaced electrodes at least one of which is controllable independently of other flow passages electrodes. A controller is configured to selectively establish electrical fields for all of the independently controllable electrodes to close all of the flow passages to ER fluid flowing through the housing. By removing the fields from all of the independently controllable electrodes, all the flow passages are open to the ER fluid flowing through the housing. By establishing fields for select independently controllable electrodes to close their associated flow passages and by leaving other flow passages open, restricted flow of the ER fluid through the housing is accomplished to vary the flow rate through the housing.

主权项

1. An electrorheological (ER) fluid valve comprising:
two or more radially arranged ER fluid flow passages, wherein each ER fluid flow passage is defined by respective pairs of radially arranged substrates that are spaced from one another, and wherein each substrate includes one or more independently controllable electrodes; ER fluid capable of flowing in the fluid flow passages; and a controller configured to selectively establish electrical fields between the pairs of substrates by applying voltages to the independently controllable electrodes, wherein the ER fluid reacts to the established electrical fields to open or close the ER fluid flow passages.