Design of a Non-Contact Radial Torque Sensor with Variable Torque Range by Electromagnetic Coil Coupling with Piezoelectric Sensor

Recently, due to the development of automation technology, torque measuring and monitoring technologies have been brought to the focus. However, the commercially available sensors have the disadvantage of large volume, which results in the difficulty of installation on existing automated machines. Responding to the above-mentioned problem, a contactless torque sensor that uses an electromagnetic coil combined with a permanent magnet was proposed. By adjusting the input electric current in the coil, the strength of the magnetic field can be controlled to generate a non-contact magnetic force to resist external torque loading. For the measurement of such a magnetic force, a cantilever-beam mechanism comprising a piezoelectric-loading (PZT-L) sensor is employed to estimate the external static force by measuring the variation of the electric impedance. According to the measured results, the proposed PZT-L sensor demonstrates the accuracy of the proposed design, for which the maximum estimated error was around 6%. Finally, the proposed contactless torque sensor with 11 cm in diameter and 2 cm in thickness was employed to verify the effectiveness of theoretical analysis. From the sensor characteristic measurement, the detection range for external torque can be from 7.8 to 125.6 N-mm when the driven current input ranged from 2 to 10 A. Therefore, the experimental results presented that the moment of inertia via the resisted torque can be adjusted by the proposed non-contact torque-sensing system according to the measuring condition.

Optimum Design of Square Air-Core Electromagnetic Coil System

Designs of electromagnetic (EM) coil have attracted a lot of attention in the research community due to its applications in several areas of human endeavours. However, the optimal selection of coil wire size and current in the design of Square Air-Core Multi-turn Multilayer Electromagnetic Coil (SAMMEC) with significant wire diameter for both safe and cost-effective products has not been given enough research attention. Therefore, the equation for the flux density produced by a rectangular loop of wire was adopted in the modelling of SAMMEC with significant wire diameter. A coil design chart was constructed based on the developed model and design specifications. Both the feasible and non-feasible design regions and the line of optimum magnetic flux density were identified on the constructed chart. The appropriate wire size and current for the coil were both determined from the design-chart. The diameter, length, resistance, copper loss, and weight of the selected wire for the generation of 0.06 T flux density were found to be 0.00326 m, 267.01 m, 0.5502 Ω, 263.87 W, and 19.86 kg respectively. The selected wire can produce an optimum flux density of 0.066 T with current of 24 Amp and associated copper loss of 316.92 W. Keywords—Air core, Electromagnetic coil, Magnetic flux density, Multilayer, Multi-turn

Capsule Endoscopy for Gastric Evaluation

Wireless capsule endoscopy was first developed to observe the small intestine. A small capsule can be swallowed and images of gastrointestinal tract are taken with natural movement of peristalsis. Application of capsule endoscopy for observing the stomach has also received much attention as a useful alternative to esophagogastroduodenoscopy, but anatomical characteristics of the stomach have demanded technical obstacles that need to be tackled: clear visualization and active movements that could be controlled. Different methods of controlling the capsule within stomach have been studied and magnetic manipulation is the only system that is currently used in clinical settings. Magnets within the capsule can be controlled with a hand-held magnet paddle, robotic arm, and electromagnetic coil system. Studies on healthy volunteers and patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms have shown that it is a safe and effective alternative method of observing the stomach. This work reviews different magnetic locomotion systems that have been used for observation of the stomach as an emerging new application of wireless capsule endoscopy.

SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH OF CLAW POLE MACHINE WITH A HYBRID EXCITATION AND LAMINATED ROTOR CORE

This paper presents the design and research results of a claw pole machine with hybrid excitation. This machine is excited by permanent magnets and an electromagnetic coil. Both excitation sources are located in the rotor of the machine. Additionally, the rotor is made of a laminated core. This approach facilitates the process of its construction and enables the implementation of even very complicated structure of the rotor, which would be difficult in case of making the rotor from a one piece of material. This paper presents the construction as well as the results of simulation and experimental tests of the machine prototype. The tests showed that the proposed machine has the ability to adjust the voltage in a wide range. Such as a feature could be used, for example, to increase the speed of motor operation in case of an electric vehicle application, but also to regulate the voltage in wind turbines which generators operate at varying rotor speeds resulting from changing wind speed.

Experiments and Numerical Implementation of a Boundary Value Problem Involving a Magnetorheological Elastomer Layer Subjected to a Nonuniform Magnetic Field

This study investigates experimentally and numerically the response of a magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) layer placed atop an electromagnetic coil. The MRE layer is deflected upon application of a current in the coil, which creates highly nonuniform magnetic fields. Isotropic and transversely isotropic layers (i.e., containing chains of magnetic particles) are tested experimentally, and the isotropic layer exhibits the largest deflection. To enhance the energetic efficiency of the model device, an iron core is introduced inside the electromagnetic coil, thereby leading to an increase in the resulting magnetic field near the center of the MRE layer. In parallel, the boundary value problem —including the MRE layer, the coil, the core (if present) and the surrounding air—is modeled numerically. For this, a magneto-mechanical, vector potential-based variational formulation is implemented in a standard three-dimensional finite element model at finite strains. For the material description, a recently proposed analytical homogenization-guided model is used to analyze the MRE in the “coil-only” configuration. It is then employed to predict the response of the layer in the “coil plus core” configuration, thus circumventing the need for a separate material characterization procedure. The proposed numerical simulation strategy provides a deeper understanding of the underlying complexity of the magnetic fields and of their interaction with the MRE layer. This study also reveals the importance of modeling the entire setup for predicting the response of MRE materials and, as a result, constitutes a step toward designing more efficient MRE-based devices.

Current Driver Design for Electromagnetic Coil Using Adaptive Active Disturbance Rejection Control

An adaptive active disturbance rejection controller is used in the current driver design of the electromagnetic coil. Extended state observer of the 1st-order system is adopted for disturbance observation of ADRC. The supervised recursive least squares method is proposed for real-time parameters estimation, in which the excitation signal variance is used to trigger the parameter estimator. The experimental results demonstrate that ADRC combined with real-time parameter estimation simplifies the parameter tuning and improves the parameter adaptive ability.

Finite Element Magnetic Method for Magnetorheological Based Actuators

Magnetorheological materials based actuators have been currently exciting research topic for more than half-decades. Some actuators have been developed based on magnetorheological fluids and elastomers such as dampers, brakes, haptic devices, clutches, mountings, etc. These devices have their exciting properties which are capable of changing characteristic based on the amount of magnetic flux applied to them. Due to this capability, they are usually called semi-active devices. These devices employ an electromagnetic coil for magnetic flux production. Therefore, during the design process, magnetostatic simulation using the finite element method magnetic is carried out to make a better magnetic circuit. This chapter will consider several discussions such as necessary magnetostatic using free software finite element method magnetic (FEMM); design consideration for the magnetic circuit of the device and case studies of several type simulation in magnetorheological materials based devices.