Magnetorheological (MR) brakes are MR fluid-based electromechanical brakes. MR drum brake has a cylindrical shape rotor, and MR fluid operates in a constant radial gap. The presented MR drum operates in hybrid mode and uses a spring-cam-lever arrangement to operate the MR fluid in shear and compression mode. The electromagnet used in the proposed brake is located to the side, and the maximum size is selected to be comparable to that of a conventional friction two-wheeler drum brake. The contribution of the present work is to study the effect of the hybrid mode of operation on braking torque. The performance testing of the proposed hybrid MR drum brake is presented as per the standard schedule on 2/3 wheeler brake inertia dynamometer and its performance has been compared with conventional friction drum brake.

Dr. Chiranjit Sarkar, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Patna; Mr. Rakesh Kumar Singh, Doctoral student, Indian Institute of Technology Patna