Design and control of a magnetically suspended ceiling actuator with infinite planar stroke

This paper presents the design and control of a magnetically suspended ceiling actuator which combines four iron-cored linear actuators and a checkerboard permanent magnet array for an infinite planar stroke. When the actuators are rotated with respect to the PM array, it is shown that the thrust and normal force produced by the three-phase linear actuators can be controlled by applying Park's transformation. The design of the ironcored linear actuators is optimized for minimum losses when the translator inside the ceiling actuator and a payload are accelerated in the xy-plane. The optimization is performed using an analytical model is. Simulations of the optimized design with a 3D FE-model, show a maximum tracking error of 1 µm and rotations of 30 µrad when the translator is moved and controlled in 6 DOF.