On the control of a rotary-linear switched reluctance motor

In several advanced industrial applications both rotary and linear movements are required. But in many cases, mainly due to space limitations it is difficult to use two motors to ensure the two types of motion. For such applications the rotary-linear motors are ideal solutions. The proposed switched reluctance rotary-linear motor practically combines three identical rotating motors with a linear one. It can be used in precise two degrees of freedom motion control systems, as pick and place equipment, robotics, instrumentation, automotive applications, etc. In the first part of the paper the proposed motor is described together with its control system. In the second part results of simulations are given for the rotational, translational and combined rotating-linear movements. All these results emphasize the correct design of the motor and its capability to perform both the two types of movements.