MagnetoRheological Fluid

[Ken]

The television show Rides! had an espisode featuring Rod Millen and his work with Toyota, as well as the military. One of the things they talked about was his work on the MagnetoRheological Fluid Optimized Active Damper Suspension for the Hummer. The neat thing was the demonstration of how the fluid worked.

They holding a piece that represented the shock rod in a pan of the stuff, and when they energized the rod you could see the stuff harden immediately to rock solid. They also showed how you could release it a little at a time or all at once.

I had a mental image of how the shocks worked, but this was actually a pretty cool demonstration which gave you a very clear picture of what was happening. :cool

 

[JohnZ]

The same technology is used in the optional C5 suspension package (standard on the 50th Anniversary edition); pretty pricey, though.

 

[Ken]

I am aware of that John. I was just more or less curious to see if anyone else had seen a demonstration like that.

 

[Tuna]

At the NCM's Labor Day even back in 2002, when I picked up my 03 AE, the Delphi guys and gals were there with a little miniture "shock" in clear plastic. You could see the fluid in the tube and it looked awful.

They would pass it around and allow people to move the piston back and forth - easy enough. Then they placed a little, and I mean little, magnet on the orifice area and it became impossible to move the piston.

If you played with the distance the magnet was away from the fluid, you could start moving the piston. It's very sensitive stuff.

 

[bradfordsvettes]

went to the training center and they had a demo it was pretty amazing from liquid to tar in a blink of an eye :cool steve

 

[Ken]

... a little miniture "shock" in clear plastic. You could see the fluid in the tube ... little, magnet on the orifice area and it became impossible to move the piston.

They showed that one too; it was a little magnet, eh? :L

What impressed me was the "pool" demonstration, where as Steve said, it went from a liquid to a tar and back again. Pretty cool. :cool

 

[bradfordsvettes]

they used pulse width modulated control you could make that como do any viscocity you wanted :cool steve