A new MR cylinder with built-in valves using MR fluid (MR valve) is suggested and fabricated for fluid control systems. The MR fluid is a newly developed functional fluid whose obvious viscosity is controlled by the applied magnetic field intensity. The MR cylinder is composed of cylinder with small clearance and piston with electromagnet. The differential pressure is controlled by the applied magnetic field intensity. It has the characteristics of simple, compact and reliable structure. The size of MR cylinder and piston has φ>30㎜×300㎜ and φ>28.5㎜×I20㎜ in face size, respectively and O.8㎜ in gap length. Through experiments, it was found that the differential pressure is controlled by the applied magnetic field intensity under little influence of the flow rate, which corresponds to a pressure control valve. The differential pressure of 0.47MPa was obtained with the input current of 1.5A. The rising time was 2.3s in step response of a manipulator using the MR cylinder. The effectiveness of the MR cylinder was also demonstrated through the position control.
