Simulation Study of a New Magnetorheological Polishing Fluid Collector Based on Air Seal

Inverted magnetorheological (MR) polishing device mainly use a magnetic sealing ring to collect polishing fluid. This collection method wears the wheel surface of the polishing wheel, affects the surface accuracy of the polishing wheel, and introduces machining error. In order to reduce this wear and improve recovery efficiency, a new type of collector using an air seal is proposed in this paper. Furthermore, testing method using six factors and a three-level orthogonal test table is used to study the structural parameters of the new collector. The flow fields affected by the different structural parameters were simulated, and the corresponding collection efficiency was analyzed. The results show that the air nozzle diameter has the greatest impact on the fluctuation value of the collector outlet flow, followed by the airflow velocity and nozzle spacing. Moreover, the structural parameters obtained from the orthogonal test were optimized using the control variable method. The minimum flow fluctuation and maximum flow at the collector outlet can be obtained when the nozzle diameter is 2.5 mm and the nozzle airflow velocity is 31 m/s.