This paper presents the design of a viscometer principle using a magnetically levitated ball. A steel ball is submerged in a fluid and is supported by magnetic forces only. By superposing different magnetic fields it is possible to excite the ball to perform an orbiting movement so that a viscous force acting on the ball is generated. The ball's trajectory is recorded and evaluated for several excitation frequencies, resulting in a transfer function. First experimental measurement results show that there is a clear relationship between the extracted transfer function and the fluid's shear viscosity.
Forschungs-