M. Whittle, R. Firoozian, W. A. Bullough and D. J. Peel: Int. J. of Modern Physics B. 6 , 2683 - 2704, (1992).
A
Model For The Electrical Characteristics of an ER valve.
M.Whittle
Abstract
We present a simple model which can account for the electrical response characteristics of an Electro-Rheological (ER) near-parallel plate valve restrictor. We find that a self-consistent electrical model which can describe the current response to transient and biased sine wave voltage excitations must incorporate the non-linear dependence of current on voltage found at steady state. In addition, the steady state current characteristics are a function of the fluid flow rate. This can be described analytically and included in the model.
Analytical solutions show that non-linearity affects the detailed shape of the current response to large voltage inputs. The initial current response is well described by a numerical solution to the model differential equation using the experimental voltage as input. In the case of the relatively small fluctuations involved in the sine wave experiments, a linearised form of this model is found to be an adequate approximation.
Parameters are obtained for the model which are, within a generous margin of error, independent of valve dimension.
Home Chemoinformatics Group Dept. of Information Studies University of Sheffield