Design and Simulation of Novel 3-DOF Spherical Voice Coil Motor

Multi-DOF motion is realized in the eyes and joints of robots mostly through the combination of multiple one-degree-of-freedom (1-DOF) motors. However, this results in reduced efficiency, a large volume, reduced response speed, and inaccurate positioning. To solve these problems, this study proposes a novel 3-DOF spherical voice coil motor (VCM). In this VCM, 16 coils and a radially oriented ring magnet are used to generate a Lorentz force to achieve motion. In particular, coils for Z-axis rotation are sandwiched between the coils for X- and Y-axis rotation. Furthermore, the proposed VCM can achieve 360° rotation about the Z-axis. The commercial software ANSYS was used to design and verify the performance of the proposed VCM. Simulation results indicate that this VCM affords improved power efficiency because only a suitable combination of coils, rather than all coils, needs to be powered on. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed 3-DOF spherical VCM.

Magnetophoresis of microparticles in a magnetic liquid

An experimental setup has been developed for studying magnetophoresis in a layer of a magnetic fluid several millimeters thick by the method of transmission and reflection of light. In the experiment, we used the region of a ring magnet changing in sign of the magnetic field. The clarification of the central portion of the magnetic fluid layer, which is observed for several days, is interpreted by the fact that the concentration of particles is redistributed due to the processes of magnetophoresis of microparticles and diffusion of nanoparticles in an inhomogeneous magnetic field.

Magnetic enhancement for the analysis of scintillation crystals by radio frequency glow discharge mass spectrometry

A ring magnet enhancement method was developed and applied for the effective detection of scintillation crystals by rf-GD-MS.

Investigation of a Novel Tri-Stable Cantilever Beam With Two Magnets

The conventional non-linear tri-stable cantilever beams (TCBs) consisting of permanent magnets have the disadvantages of many magnets and complex parameters. In this paper, a novel TCB is proposed, which contains only two magnets, a ring magnet and a rectangular magnet. Through theoretical analysis and experimental verification of the magnetic force and the system potential function, it is proved that this TCB can have tri-stable characteristics, which provides an effective and simplified design approach for constructing a TCB. The dynamics analysis of this TCB with different structural parameters reveals the mechanism of excitation intensity, potential well depth and potential well spacing on the response of the system.