A novel water-cooling magnetorheological transmission device

Magnetorheological (MR) fluid in power transmission devices, especially in high-power transmission devices, sometimes works at high temperatures owing to wall slip, particle friction, and exciting current. In such cases, effective heat dissipation is crucial. A novel water-cooling structure is proposed to deal with the negative effect of centrifugal force on heat dissipation. The magnetic circuit of the novel MR transmission device is designed on the basis of electromagnetic theory, and the magnetic field is investigated by finite element calculation. Experiments under extreme condition show that the temperature of MR fluid in the device drops sharply from 70 °C to 28 °C, and the heat generated inside the device dissipates instantly. Results show that the novel power transmission device has excellent heat dissipation effect.