Force Output Of Actuator Research Articles

Empirical Analysis of the Effects of Parasitic Magnetic Stray Field on Force Output of Electromagnetic Actuators

Electromagnetic actuators are used in a variety of technical applications especially in the automotive industry. In-line process control methods are an essential component of the Lean and Six Sigma methodology to ensure process quality. However, the current state of the art in process and quality control is largely limited to end-of-line measurements of the force output. Analysing the magnetic stray field is a promising method that can be used to draw conclusions on the properties and defects of the flux-conducting magnetic materials. This phenomenon can potentially be used to identify defects in magnetic actuators thus allowing inline quality-monitoring. In order to realize this feature, patterns in the magnetic stray field of an actuator have to be identified and linked to a specific defect. The resulting challenge is the analysis of large datasets in order to characterize the stray field anomalies. This paper summarizes the results of a study on linear magnetic actuators trying to prove a relationship between parasitic magnetic stray field and the overall force output of an actuator by analysing the data with statistical methods. The findings of this study suggest that certain statistical methods, like regression, are not well suited to build a prediction model for defects in actuators using a similar approach of measuring stray field outside the actuator. This is mainly due to the fact that prerequisites for model building are difficult to full fill within the context of stray field analysis. Nevertheless, the findings also suggest that methods of exploratory data analysis can be used to derive quality relevant information from data of stray field measurements. The paper elaborates on the problem of defining a population, choosing variables for model building, as well as model error.

Passivity-Based Impact and Force Control of a Pneumatic Actuator

To carry out stable and dissipative contact tasks with an arbitrary environment, it is critical for a pneumatic actuator to be passive with respect to a supply rate consisting of the spool valve position input and the actuation force output. A pseudo-bond graph model with the inner product between spool valve position input and actuation force output as a pseudo-supply rate is developed. Using this pseudo-bond graph model, an open-loop pneumatic actuator controlled by a four-way proportional valve can be proven to not be passive with respect to the pseudo-supply rate. Conversely, it can also be proven to be passive with respect to the pseudo-supply rate under a closed-loop feedback control law. The passivity of the closed-loop pneumatic actuator is verified in impact and force control experiments. The experimental results also validate the pseudo-bond graph model. The pseudo-bond graph model is intended for passivity analysis and controller design for pneumatic actuation applications where contact stability (such as robotic assembly) and/or stable interaction with a passive environment (such as human-robot interaction) is required.

Multiwalled-carbon nanotubes and polyaniline coating on electro-active paper for bending actuator

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) and polyaniline are coated on an electro-active paper (EAPap) to improve the performance of the bending actuator, and its performance is tested. EAPap actuators made with cellulose paper have merits in terms of large bending displacement, ultra-lightweight, dryness, low actuation voltage and power consumption, low cost and biodegradability. However, the force output of actuators is small and the actuation frequency is low. Thus, MWNT and emeraldine salt polyaniline (PANI) are coated on the EAPap material to improve the force and the actuation frequency. The MWNT and PANI solution is made by sonication, and the sonication time and the weight per cents of the MWNT and PANI are optimized to improve the hybrid actuator performance. The optimum condition is associated with conversion of the partial conductive state PANI into the emeraldine formed PANI by the chemical bonding between the MWNT and PANI. The performance improvement of the EAPap actuator coated with MWNT/PANI is investigated in terms of displacement, blocking force and efficiency. In the presence of an electric field (0.35 V µm−1) on the hybrid EAPap actuator, 250% of the output force, 160% of the resonance frequency and 50% of efficiency are improved.