Development and Evaluation of a High Voltage Supply Unit for Electrorheological Fluid Dampers

SUMMARY

Controllable dampers using electrorheological (ER) fluids have attracted considerable interest in recent years. They are proposed for use in semi-active suspensions for ground vehicles. The main advantages of ER fluid dampers are their fast response, ease of control, simple construction and low power requirements. This paper describes the development and testing of a high-voltage supply unit for modulating the damping force of an ER fluid damper. Experimental results on the vibration isolation characteristics of an ER fluid damper with different control strategies, obtained using a quarter-car model test rig, are also presented.