Les fluides magnéto-rhéologiques en tant que frein haptique: Application au rendu de toucher de piano

A novel haptic interface for musical keyboards is presented, in view of its application to numerical pianos. Tne new key nas an embedded active damping system based on a magneto-rheological (MR) fluid that can reproduce the dynamical behavior of traditional piano keys. The MR fluid is encapsulated into a thin cavity sealed by means of a flexible membrane. A slider is pushed by the key and shears the MR fluid. When a magnetic field is created in the cavity (by means of a current applied to coils and controlled In real-time), magnetic particles In the fluid organize themselves into chains aligned with the magnetic field. The chains alter strongly the rheology of the fluid. The resulting resistant force can therefore be controlled In real-time.