IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 50, NO.

11, NOVEMBER 2014 4601004

Power-Saving Magnetizing Device for Magnetorheological

Fluid Control Using Permanent Magnet
Yasukazu Sato
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yokohama National University, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan

This paper presents a power-saving magnetizing device for magnetorheological fluids (MRFs). This device encompasses a
permanent magnet for magnetizing the MRF, instead of an electromagnet that consumes electric power. The permanent magnet
applies a magnetic field to the MRF through a specially designed magnetic yoke, and the field intensity can be controlled by
moving the magnet. When the magnetic field is controlled by a permanent magnet, the thrust attracting the magnet into the
yoke normally acts on the magnet, and consumes power holding and moving the magnet. This paper proposes and evaluates a
magnetic circuit design to reduce the thrust, improve magnetic field control, and accomplish a power-saving magnetizing device for
MRFs.
Index Terms— Magnetic liquid, magnetorheological fluid (MRF), permanent magnet, power saving, viscosity.

I. I NTRODUCTION

A MAGNETORHEOLOGICAL fluid (MRF) is a func-

tional fluid, which can change its viscosity with a
change in external magnetic field intensity. It is applied
in dampers, resistive force displays, clutches, and so on
[1]–[10]. A conventional magnetizing device for MRF vis-
cosity control normally utilizes an electromagnet for applying
a magnetic field to the MRF through a yoke. A power-
saving magnetizing device using an electromagnet and a
permanent magnet was developed in [11] and [12]. This
device consumes electric power only when the magnetic
field intensity changes, and maintains the magnetic field at
steady state without any electric power consumption. For
MRF applications in isolated environments and environments
without electric power sources, a magnetizing device for
MRF control that uses only a permanent magnet would be
needed.
Since electromagnets consumes electric power for magne-
tizing the MRF at steady state, a power-saving magnetizing
device for MRF viscosity control that uses a permanent magnet
instead of an electromagnet has been developed. For mag-
netic field control using only a permanent magnet, a degree
of mechanical movement is needed to move the permanent
magnet or interrupt the magnetic flux linkage between the
MRF and the permanent magnet. For magnetic field control
using a permanent magnet, a certain amount of power is con-
sumed to maintain or change the permanent magnet position,
because the thrust always acts on the permanent magnet in the
magnetically stable direction. Despite of using a permanent
magnet, power saving is not achieved unless the thrust on
the permanent magnet is reduced. We therefore propose and
evaluate an optimized magnetic circuit and yoke shape for
control of the magnetic field generated by the permanent
magnet but with reduced thrust.
Manuscript received March 8, 2014; revised April 23, 2014; accepted
May 12, 2014. Date of current version November 18, 2014. Corresponding
author: Y. Sato (e-mail: yasukazu@ynu.ac.jp).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2014.2325870
0018-9464 © 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Fig. 1. Basic configuration of magnetizing device for MRF control using
only a permanent magnet.
II. M AGNETIZING D EVICE FOR MRF C ONTROL
U SING P ERMANENT M AGNET
Fig. 1 shows the basic configuration of a magnetizing device
with permanent magnet. It consists of a permanent magnet
block driven by a linear actuator or mechanical linkage,
yokes, and a conduit through which the MRF flows. In this
configuration, the magnetic field applied to the MRF in the
conduit is controlled by the overlap of the permanent magnet
and the yoke teeth. The magnetic field intensity on the MRF
is altered by varying the permanent magnet position. This
configuration is defined as Model 1.
The simulated thrust acting on the permanent magnet is
validated by measurements using the testing equipment in
Fig. 2. The yoke unit and MRF conduit are mounted on a
manually operated linear stage. An NdFeB magnet block is
inserted into the yoke teeth, and is supported by the linear
guide and the force sensor to measure the thrust acting on
the magnet. The yoke unit on the linear stage can be slid
relative to the magnet block. The thrust is measured as the
reaction force acting on the magnet from the yoke teeth, and
the relative distance between the magnet and yoke teeth is
measured by the position sensor. The magnetic field intensity
at the MRF is converted from the measurement of magnetic
flux density between the MRF conduit and yoke using a
Hall-effect magnetometer.
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Fig. 2. Testing equipment to measure thrust acting on permanent magnet
and magnetic field intensity at MRF.
Fig. 3. Simulated magnetic field intensity at MRF as a function of magnet
position (Model 1).
Fig. 4. Thrust acting on the magnet for every magnet position (Model 1).
The simulated results of magnetic field intensity on the
MRF as a function of magnet position (Fig. 3) are almost
identical as the measured data. The magnetic field intensity
on the MRF is therefore controllable from 18 to 86 kA/m
by the movement of the permanent magnet through 16 mm
to change the overlap of permanent magnet and yoke teeth.
However, thrust acts on the permanent magnet (Fig. 4) when
the magnet protrudes from the yokes. Maximum thrust occurs,
where the magnet is completely removed from the yoke teeth.
This means that the control of the position of a permanent
magnet requires power consumption of a linear actuator or
mechanical linkage to move the magnet and maintain its
position.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 50, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2014
Fig. 5. Symmetric yoke configuration for the concept of invariable reluctance
as a function of magnet position (Model 2).
Fig. 6. Simulated magnetic field intensity at MRF as a function of magnet
position (Model 2).
Fig. 7. Thrust acting on the magnet for every magnet position (Model 2)
with thrust of Model 1 shown for comparison.
III. P OWER -S AVING M AGNETIZING D EVICES FOR MRF
C ONTROL U SING P ERMANENT M AGNET AND
T HEIR M AGNETIC C IRCUIT I MPROVEMENT
Thrust is caused by a change in reluctance between the
magnet and yoke. Therefore, this thrust can be suppressed
if the reluctance is insensitive to magnet position. Based
on this concept, an improved magnetic circuit configuration,
defined as Model 2, has been proposed (Fig. 5). It consists of
an MRF conduit, dummy tube containing the MRF, which
reproduces the same magnetic properties as the MRF in
the conduit, and yokes located symmetrically to the magnet.
In this configuration, the magnet does not protrude from the
yoke teeth, and the reluctance is approximately invariable
for magnet position because of the symmetrical yoke layout.
The magnetic flux is distributed to the MRF conduit and
dummy tube corresponding to a shift in magnet position
from the center of the yoke teeth, but the total magnetic
flux is constant. The magnetic field intensities at the MRF
conduit, which is the control target, and at the dummy tube are
therefore changed alternately by the magnet position without
the thrust. The magnetic field intensity at the MRF conduit
and the thrust acting on the magnet in Model 2 are shown in
Figs. 6 and 7, respectively. Compared with Model 1, the thrust
in Model 2 is reduced, but a certain thrust appears when the
magnet approaches the center of the yoke teeth (x > −6 mm)
SATO: POWER-SAVING MAGNETIZING DEVICE
Fig. 8. Symmetric yoke configuration for minimizing magnetic saturation at
the edge of the yoke center (Model 3).
Fig. 9. Simulated magnetic field intensity at MRF as a function of magnet
position (Model 3).
Fig. 10. Thrust acting on the magnet for every magnet position (Model 3)
with thrust of Model 2 shown for comparison.
Fig. 11. Magnetic flux density distribution of Model 3 in which magnetic
flux is divided equally to both sides of the yokes for any magnet position.
and protrudes from the edge of the MRF conduit side yoke
(x < −9 mm). The thrust caused by the protrusion of the
magnet from the yoke edge can be ignored because the magnet
is outside the controllable range. The thrust caused by the
magnet being positioned near the yoke center is considered to
result from a collapse in magnetic symmetry because of the
magnetic saturation at the triangular yoke tip.
To minimize the magnetic saturation at the triangle tip, a
yoke shape with certain thickness at the center is proposed as
Model 3. The yoke shape, magnetic field intensity, and thrust
of Model 3 are shown in Figs. 8–10, respectively. Model 3
with the yoke edge for minimizing magnetic saturation can
reduce the thrust at the magnet position near the yoke center.
Although the thrust in Model 3 is reduced significantly, it is
found by measurement and simulation that the magnetic field
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Fig. 12. Stepped tip at edge of the yoke for sufficient division of magnetic
flux according to magnet position (Model 4).
Fig. 13. Intermediate yoke shape between Models 2 and 3 for sufficient
division of magnetic flux as per magnet position (Model 4).
Fig. 14. Simulated magnetic field intensity at MRF against the magnet
position (Model 4).
Fig. 15. Thrust acting on the magnet for every magnet position (Model 4)
with thrust of Models 1 and 3 shown for comparison.
intensity at the MRF conduit is approximately constant for
any magnet position. This deterioration is due to insufficient
division of the magnetic flux, because of the increase in contact
area at the yoke center. Fig. 11 shows that the magnetic flux
is divided equally to both sides of the yokes for any magnet
position because of the increase in contact area at the yoke
center.
Since minimizing the magnetic saturation at the triangular
tip has the opposite effect to sufficient division of the magnetic
flux, an intermediate yoke shape between that of Models 2
and 3 is proposed, as shown in Fig. 12. This shape is defined
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TABLE I
F EATURES OF M AGNETIZING D EVICE FOR MRF V ISCOSITY C ONTROL U SING O NLY A P ERMANENT M AGNET
as Model 4, and has a stepped tip at the edge of the yoke
with dimensions, as shown in Fig. 13. The magnetic field
intensity at the MRF conduit and the thrust acting on the
magnet of Model 4 are shown in Figs. 14 and 15, respectively.
The thrust is reduced over the entire controllable range, which
is equivalent to Model 3. The magnetic field intensity at
the MRF conduit changes from 27 to 62 kA/m as per the
magnet position, which is equivalent to Model 1. The power-
saving magnetizing device for MRF control using a permanent
magnet is achieved using the Model 4 topology, which can
control the magnetic field intensity on the MRF without the
thrust acting on the magnet for any magnet position.
IV. C ONCLUSION
The power-saving magnetizing device for MRF viscosity
control only by permanent magnet was developed without
using an electromagnet. The magnetizing device with the
improved yoke shape and permanent magnet has remarkably
reduced the power to move the permanent magnet and change
the magnetic field intensity at the MRF or maintain the
magnet position.
The features of the magnetizing devices considered in this
paper are summarized in Table I.
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