Effects of Magnetic Conducting Boundary on Design of Electromagnetic Actuators Using Image method

Design and control of multi degrees of freedom (DOF) electromagnetic actuators often require understanding the magnetic fields of a permanent magnet (PM), an electromagnet (EM) and a magnetic material boundary. This paper presents an image method to characterize the magnetic field of a permanent magnet (PM), magnetic conducting boundary, and its use in computing the magnetic torque of PM-based actuators. In particular, the method offers an effective means to optimize design parameters that could significantly affect the torque and force performance of a multi-DOF electromagnetic actuator. While developed in the context of the multi-DOF actuator, the modeling techniques presented in this paper are applicable to design of other PM-based actuators.