Numerical simulation of forces in an ironless planar actuator

Abstract

An electromagnetic planar actuator can be described as a device that produces movement on a plane and provides movement with a minimum of two degrees of freedom within an area of movement over that plane [1]. The concept of a planar actuator with an ironless armature is explored in this work. The device is based on a double mover with two pairs of two high-energy NdFeB permanent magnets. They produce a bidirectional movement over the plane formed by the armature with orthogonal windings. This is due to the interaction with the currents in the windings. Its topology is represented in Fig.1 (a). It consists of multiphase windings that are arranged to form two sets of orthogonal windings, i.e., a group of coils assembled in the x-axis forming the x-axis multiphase winding and the group of coils assembled in the y-axis forming the y-axis multiphase winding. Each layer of those multiphase windings is electrically isolated from the other, and each multiphase winding is divided into 6 independent coils or phases.