Characteristics of a bistable permanent magnet linear actuator with soft magnetic mover

Modelling and characteristics of a newly developed bistable permanent magnet linear actuator are presented. The permanent magnets are fixed and the mover is soft magnetic one. The driving and the holding force can be varied practically independently as they are mainly formed through different air gaps. Static and dynamic characteristics of the actuator are obtained. The static force characteristics are obtained using finite element method for different permanent magnets, different combinations of the two air gaps and different coil currents. Dynamic characteristics are obtained for actuator with ferrite magnets. The results for static and dynamic characteristics are verified experimentally on a prototype of the actuator with ferrite magnets.

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