An example of design—Embodiment for electrorheological fluid based mechatronic transmission components

In this paper some design concept for mechatronic components used in transmission systems with ER fluid based on the testing of physical models is proposed. The proposed design concept of mechatronic components of a transmission system was used to control a viscous brake where application of various ER fluids was considered in order to vary its performance. The main problem was to investigate whether changes of rheological characteristics due to the application of different fluids correspond to changes of torque carried by the brake throughout the entire range of angular velocities.Based on the brake testing results it was concluded that the results obtained for one working fluid could be successfully used for the design of a brake with an ER fluid having different rheological characteristics.