MR fluid in motorcycle shocks.
 

Hello there, my name is Dave and I am a student at Mt Hood Community College. In my project design class we were asked to design a product for the motorcycle industry. After some brain storming my group came up with a possible idea. We propose to design a full after market suspension using MagneRide technology. For those who are not familiar with MagneRide technology you can ask me for some links with some very good information on how it works ( i was not allowed to post any on this post because i have a post count of < 10)

The secret to the MagneRide technology is the MR (magneto-rheological) fluid that is being used in the shocks. MR fluid is basically very small metal shavings suspended in a water based fluid. When you apply a magnet to the shock the small particles in the fluid align and change the viscosity of the fluid. In return this will make the shock much stiffer and give you a more sport like suspension. In our design we are going to have the front fork, rear shock and a steering tamper all using the MR fluid and all of these components are going to be hardwired into an onboard computer. Our design is also going to consist of sensors placed all over the motorcycle. These sensors are going to measure the motorcycles speed, acceleration, steering angel, lean or tilt, and breaking. All of these sensors are going to send their information back to the computer which is going to process the data and send the proper amount of electrical current to the three individual dampening units to ensure a much more safer and comfortable ride. That is basically how we plan on our design to work.

Now this is where my team and I are in desperate need of your help. Would you please reply to this post and tell us what you thing of our design. If some of you think that this is a bad idea that’s great just tell me why you thing that it will not work. If on the other hand you guys think that this is a good idea let us know as well. We are not in any way motorcycle experts so your feed back is very valuable to us. Thank you for your time.

papercut,I personally feel that as a project its a good one but please remember this a motorcycle not a car,if a car looses its shocks or struts, it has springs or torsion bars to stop the chassis from bottoming out...sensor activated shocks could result in catastrophic results..sensors a prone to fail this could result in dropping the suspension down to a level where the tires could bottom on the fenders causing loss of control or even a flat tire which is a nasty and painful thing. just my thoughts...bad dog