Small Linear PM Oscillatory Motor: Magnetic Circuit Modeling Corrected by Axisymmetric 2-D FEM and Experimental Characterization

Linear permanent-magnet (PM) actuators with short strokes represent an excellent alternative to pneumatic or hydraulic actuators in different fields of application, whenever fast response, flexibility, high reliability, and safety are required. The purpose of this paper is to present a new hybrid model and a testing sequence to rather completely characterize a small PM oscillatory motor for compressor-like applications. The hybrid model is composed of an iterative nonlinear magnetic circuit method which is corrected by an axisymmetric (2-D) finite-element method (FEM) model. The benefit that this hybrid model has is its low computation time when compared with similar analysis using 3-D FEM. This characteristic is very significant for industrial usage.