Dual drive coils design for a long stroke electromagnetically actuated micro-positioning system

In this paper, a parallel kinematic based electromagnetically actuated planar micro-positioning system is presented. The system is driven with four orthogonally assembled linear electromagnetic actuators. Each actuator consist of a set of permanent magnets assembled together in North-south configuration to realize a permanent magnet array. This assembly approach of the permanent magnets opens the possibility to utilize a set of top and bottom drive coils to enhance generated electromagnetic forces during motion. The micro-positioning system design proposed in this paper is able to deliver millimeter level strokes within an aperture of 30mm×30mm within its compact footprint size of 80mm×80 mm. Moreover, the dual drive coil design of the positioning system increase the magnitude of the generated electromagnetic forces by 50%. This increase in the electromagnetic forces augment the load carrying capacity of the MPS by 45.5%. The MPS prototype has been experimentally tested via open loop control to evaluate its motion performance.