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Force Capability of a Planar Peristaltic Terfenol-D Motor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

M. J. Gerver
Affiliation:
93 Summit Avenue, Brookline, MA 02446, mjgerver@aol.com
J. H. Goldie
Affiliation:
SatCon Technology Corporation, 161 First Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, goldie@satc.com
Won-Jong Kim
Affiliation:
SatCon Technology Corporation, 161 First Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, goldie@satc.com
Jerome Kiley
Affiliation:
SatCon Technology Corporation, 161 First Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, goldie@satc.com
J. R. Swenbeck
Affiliation:
SatCon Technology Corporation, 161 First Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, goldie@satc.com
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Abstract

A magnetostrictive peristaltic motor, similar to an INCHWORM® motor, was designed, built, and tested, using Terfenol-D® as the active element. Unlike the Kiesewetter motor, which uses a rod of Terfenol-D in a closely fitting cylindrical channel, in our design the Terfenol-D is in the form of a flat slab, held between two spring-loaded plates. With this configuration the motor is not affected by wear of the Terfenol-D surface. In order to avoid eddy currents, we used laminated Terfenol-D. Operating at 1600 Hz with a peak field of 430 oersteds, the speed at no load was observed to be 12 mm/sec, which is 65% of the theoretical value (the peak strain times the peristaltic phase velocity), probably because the surface flatness of the Terfenol-D slab was only a few times smaller than the height of the peristaltic bumps. The measured stalling force was 90 newtons, corresponding to 350 kPa load stress in the Terfenol-D, only 3.5% of the peak strain times the stiffness of the Terfenol-D. This force was in almost exact agreement with a model which took into account the force from the spring-loaded plates (needed to avoid slippage), the transverse stiffness of the Terfenol-D slab, and the finite bending stiffness of the stator. The model can be used to design optimized motors with improved force capability. We tried using composite Terfenol-D, consisting of Terfenol-D particles in an epoxy binder, but the speed and stalling force were lower, perhaps because it did not have a very uniform distribution of particles, and was not machined as flat as the laminated Terfenol-D. The motor was driven by a specially designed 3-phase power inverter and digital controller, and the large reactive power inherent in this kind of motor was reduced by putting it in series with resonant capacitors.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2000

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References

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