The Dynamic Characteristics of the HTS Bulk Superconducting Actuator Driven With AC Electromagnets

Electric device applications of a high temperature superconducting (HTS) bulk magnet, having stable levitation and suspension properties due to their strong flux pinning force, has been proposed and developed. We have been investigating a three-dimensional (3-D) superconducting actuator using HTS bulks to develop a non-contract transportation device that moves freely in space. It is expected that our proposed 3-D superconducting actuator will be useful as a transporter used in a clean room where silicon wafers which dislike mechanical contact and dust are manufactured. The proposed actuator consists of an HTS bulk (trapped magnetic field by field cooling method) magnet for the mover and two-dimensional arranged multi-pole electromagnets as the stator. Up to now, the electromagnets consisted with ironed cores and copper coils were used as a stator, and each electromagnet was individually controlled using DC supplies. The movement of HTS bulk (mover) was not smooth because of the DC control. In this paper, the new electromagnets driven with AC control were proposed to improve the moving characteristics of the bulks. The characteristics of horizontal movement by newly proposed system will be presented.