Magnetorheological Fluid and Damper – Where Are They Used?

I thought I’d put up a list of some common uses of MR fluid and MR dampers, just to give a short overview of the wide range of the things this “smart fluid” could do. Naturally, the bias might be on the damper side, due to that being my main interest on this site.

The following is not a totally comprehensive list of use of a magnetorheological fluid or damper. This field of engineering is developing all the time and each year brings about some new application. Once the fluid has been invented  and can be manufactured reliably, the possible range of uses is vast.

Cars

One of the most common use of the magnetorheological fluid is the automotive industry. Due to its somewhat high cost, it has been included mostly in “high-end” vehicles where the relative price of the damper does not weigh so much. Thus far (among many others) the following car models have included a semi-active damper in some of their suspension: Audi R8, Chevrolet Corvette and Humvee, just to name a few.

Buildings

Also buildings located in an area with high level of seismic activity many times use vibration dampers utilizing magnetorheological fluid. Compared to fully active dampers, a semi-active solution is especially lucrative in these applications, because they require a rather low amount of power, which can many times be provided even if the main power source of the building is cut off.

Bridges

Long bridges are under some similar or even more difficult conditions. Not only may the ground start moving or the bridge receive heavy traffic, but also a storm wind can blow so hard that it tests the limits of the mechanical design. According to the paper that studies bridges using magnetorheological fluid dampers, the test results have been an improvement compared to the industry tradition.

Agriculture

Tractor cabin suspension is one application that has been studied in the field of magnetorheological fluid dampers. The idea is very similar to semi-active car suspension, but the aim is more to prevent a broader range of cabin movement: vertical and rolling movement and pitching, for instance. This is probably the damper location closest to the human body that has been introduced and applied.

Military

Ok, an exception to the last statement is of course the body armor – my personal favorite. It provides the benefits of regular clothing: it is easy and flexible to wear, it covers joints, it’s light to carry. But what’s the greatness in it, is that by creating a magnetic field within just milliseconds, the armor containing magnetorheological fluid turns into a bulletproof vest.

Now how Matrix is that?

However, I haven’t heard that the vest would be in production yet.

Magnetorheological Fluid as Technology Platform

An additional advantage in applying a controllable fluid in a fresh industry is that after installing for example a magnetorheological damper, the technology then enables the use of ever evolving regulation solutions. Also, the long line of algorithms originally developed for other purposes is already out there to be utilized.  In other words, the magnetorheological fluid sets up a sort of a platform for many future algorithmic improvements requiring little – or none – changes to the physical device.

If you want to find out which tools I used in creating and testing a magnetorheological fluid damper from scratch, go see the Damper Equipment section!