A Dual-Sided Hybrid Excitation Eddy Current Damper for Vibration Suppression in Low Damping Linear Motor System

Abstract

The linear motor system is normally a low-damping system to achieve high speed and high acceleration without mechanical transmission devices. Therefore, the vibration issue is serious especially in the high-speed start–stop motion process, which deteriorates the control precision and decreases work efficiency. This article proposes a dual-sided hybrid excitation eddy current damper (ECD) to suppress the vibration of the linear motor during decelerating and stopping stages. This ECD is composed of a copper plate and two E-shape hybrid excited electromagnets. The plate is sandwiched between these dual-sided electromagnets to generate the eddy current damping force when it moves and the ECD current is excited simultaneously. The analytical model of the ECD considering leakage flux is established and verified by FEA with the deviation less than 7%. Experiments are conducted on the prototype to verify the effectiveness of its vibration restraint performance. With the active damping, the peak amplitude of the position error and the settling time are reduced by 68.88% and 33.33%, respectively.