A method and vehicle control system for controlling stiffness of at least one support structure of a vehicle includes at least one of an acceleration sensor, a braking sensor and a corner sensor for providing a driving condition of the vehicle. A controller obtains information from the sensors to determine the driving condition and control the stiffness of a support structure of the vehicle. A magnetic field generator provides a magnetic field to control the stiffness of the support structure having a magnetorheological fluid or elastomer. An electrical source provides electrical current to a support structure including an electrorheological fluid or a support structure including a meta-material. When a vehicle collision is predicted no energy is provided to the support structure to minimize the stiffness and maximize energy absorbance by the support structure in a collision.

The present invention provides a magneto rheological fluid composition for use in a vehicle mount having a flexible body and a diaphragm. The magneto rheological fluid composition consists of a carrier fluid, a plurality of magnetic responsive particles dispersed in the carrier fluid and an anti-settling agent of fumed silica dispersed in the carrier fluid forming a thixotropic network with the carrier fluid suspending the magnetic responsive particles in the thixotropic network for preventing the magnetic responsive particles from settling. The magneto rheological fluid composition of the present invention contains no additional additives providing stability to the thixotropic network and to the magneto rheological fluid and preventing the flexible body and the diaphragm from reacting with the composition to prolong the life of the composition.

A control element comprises a magnetorheological elastomer or a magnetorheological fluid and at least one drive assembly for generating a variable magnetic field. A variable feel for the user can be generated by means of the drive assembly.

A control apparatus includes a main body unit, a plurality of moving members each of which is movably supported by the main body unit, a magneto rheological fluid provided between the main body unit and each of the plurality of moving members or between each of the plurality of moving members, and one magnetic field generator configured to apply a magnetic field to the magneto rheological fluid.

Provided is a magnetorheological fluid having excellent long-term dispersion stability of magnetic particles and a large maximum change of yield stress under magnetic field application conditions. Also provided is a device having excellent long-term stable drivability and mechanism reliability. The magnetorheological fluid contains magnetic particles, resin particles, and a dispersion medium, wherein the proportion constituted by the mass of the magnetic particles relative to the total mass of the magnetorheological fluid is 35 mass % to 95 mass %, the proportion constituted by the mass of the resin particles relative to the total mass of the magnetorheological fluid is 0.3 mass % to 20 mass %, and the average particle diameter of the resin particles is 20 nm to 1,500 nm. This magnetorheological fluid is used in the device.

Aspects of the invention include a computer peripheral device comprising an input element that operates based on a performance characteristic, an electropermanent magnet (EPM) assembly including a permanent magnet configured to generate a magnetic field and a magnetizing assembly configured to set an intensity of the magnetic field generated by the permanent magnet, and a magnetorheological (MR) material coupled to the input element. The MR material has a viscosity that changes based on the magnetic field and affects the performance characteristic of the input element.

The invention relates to a method for producing iron oxide-based composite magnetic nanocomposites, for modulating the magnet grade of the magnetic nanocomposites to, for example, a soft magnetic material, or a semi-hard magnetic material, or a hard magnetic material, comprising the following steps: a0) separate dissolutions of precursors and of a base a) introduction at room temperature of an iron-based precursor (F) and of at least one metal precursor (M) other than an iron-based precursor, and of at least one base (B), and optionally of at least one rare earth precursor (R), in a given order of introduction into the autoclave b) hydrothermal and/or solvothermal production, so as to obtain magnetic nanocomposites which have a main phase and one or more secondary phases M′.sub.2(OH).sub.2O.sub.2 and/or R(OH).sub.3, c) a step of washing the nanocomposites.

The present invention relates to a magnetorheological fluid and a manufacturing method thereof. The magnetorheological fluid according to the present invention includes: a dispersion medium; magnetic particles; and a thixotropic agent, in which the magnetorheological fluid has viscoelasticity, and when shear stress τ of the viscoelasticity of the magnetorheological fluid is τ = τ.sub.0sin(wt) and shear strain γ is γ = γ.sub.0sin(wt + δ) = G′sin(wt) + G″cos [G′ is referred to storage modulus and G″ is referred to as loss modulus], when a magnetic field is applied, the slope of G″ is equal to or less than 0 for the range from 0.01% shear strain applied to the magnetorheological fluid to the shear strain value satisfying tan δ = G″ / G′= 1.

The present invention relates to a haptic information provision device. The haptic information provision device (100) according to the present invention comprises: a receiver (120) for receiving external notification information; a controller (130) for converting the notification information to a haptic signal; and an operation unit (110) for transferring haptic information to a user according to the haptic signal, wherein the operation unit (110) includes a plurality of operation units (110a-110j), the respective operation units (110a-110j) operating in response to different notification information and thus transferring different haptic information to the user.

A semiconductor package includes a VLSI semiconductor die and one or more output circuits connected to supply power to the die mounted to a package substrate. The output circuit(s), which include a transformer and rectification circuitry, provide current multiplication at an essentially fixed conversion ratio, K, in the semiconductor package, receiving AC power at a relatively high voltage and delivering DC power at a relatively low voltage to the die. The output circuits may be connected in series or parallel as needed. A driver circuit may be provided outside the semiconductor package for receiving power from a source and driving the transformer in the output circuit(s), preferably with sinusoidal currents. The driver circuit may drive a plurality of output circuits. The semiconductor package may require far fewer interface connections for supplying power to the die.