On the Fabrication of modular linear electromagnetic actuators with 3D printing technologies.

Abstract

Electromagnetic actuators are particularly appealing in different fields, especially in small size versions: the design of complex and unconventional geometries fabricated using automated manufacturing processes is gaining many interests. The exploitation of Additive Manufacturing (AM) allows to fabricate low-cost actuators reducing the manufacturing time and exploiting automated processes, potentially. In this paper, several 3D printed support-free actuators are proposed to exploit the Lorentz Force: permanent magnets and Gallium, injected into microfluidic channels designed following a Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) approach, allow the movement of the actuator. The entire design is based on a modular approach to ease the components interchange and their replacement. The results show a maximum acceleration of 1.10 m/s2 and a displacement of 20 mm (with a maximum current of 6.10 A) and the advantages of electromagnetic gallium actuators paving the way for the usage of the proposed actuators in different fields like biomedical (wearable devices, limb prosthesis and human motion systems).