Development of an ankle physiotherapy device using an MR damper

This paper presents design and development of an ankle physiotherapy device using a linear MR (magnetorheological) damper. After exploring many possible configurations of the MR valve, the proposed design makes sure that the damper is test- and research-friendly in that the damper can be easily assembled and disassembled with simple tools and procedure. The structural and functional integrity of the damper was maintained even with the simple layout of the damper. The dimensions of the MR valve are optimally determined using finite element analysis. The damper performance under steady shear is experimentally evaluated with an INSTRON test machine. The test results showed that the prototype had fulfilled the basic requirements of the desired MR ankle physiotherapy.