The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 16, 1993
Filed:
Dec. 23, 1991
Vincent M Iorio, Annapolis, MD (US);
Luke W Loy, Washington, DC (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
The invention is directed to a device for pumping electro-rheological flu comprising a casing that defines an inner rotor chamber having a central inlet opening and a peripheral discharge opening. Rotatably disposed within said chamber is a rotor for imparting energy to the pumped electro-rheological fluid comprising of a plurality of non-conducting coaxial substantially parallel spaced disks. On one face of each disk are embedded one or more electrodes and on the opposing face of each disk are attached one or more conductive surfaces. By selectively applying an electric charge to the embedded electrodes, an electric field is produced between the electrodes and the conducting surfaces of adjacent disks. As a result, the viscosity of the electro-rheological fluid exposed to the applied electric field is increased thereby producing electro-rheological fluid vanes between adjacent disks. When the rotor is placed in rotation and a voltage is applied to the embedded electrodes, the electro-rheological fluid that is not exposed to the applied electric field is accelerated from the center of the rotor towards the outer periphery by the combined action of the electro-rheological fluid vanes and the friction force acting between the fluid and the rotating disks.