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Principles of Electromechanical Energy Conversion
Published in Zeki Uğurata Kocabiyikoğlu, Electromechanical Energy Conversion, 2020
Electromechanical devices convert electrical energy into mechanical energy and vice versa. Energy conversion takes place through the medium of magnetic field. Electromechanical energy conversion is a reversible process except for the losses in the system. We can categorise the electromechanical energy conversion devices in the following manner: Transducers: These are the first category of devices that involve low-energy conversion signals from electrical to mechanical or vice versa. Microphones, sensors, and loudspeakers are typical examples of this category of devices which operate generally under linear conditions.Force-producing devices: These are the second category of devices that consist of force- or torque-producing devices with limited mechanical motion. Examples are solenoids, relays, and electromagnets.Continuous energy conversion equipment: Examples are motors and generators that are used for bulk energy conversion and utilisation.
Prototyping of automated systems
Published in Fuewen Frank Liou, Rapid Prototyping and Engineering Applications, 2019
A solenoid is an electromechanical device used to convert electrical energy into linear mechanical work to push or pull a ferrous plunger against a nonferrous load. A typical solenoid is shown in Figure 8.1. It can generate quick, linear motion. The small force (several ounces) is generated by magnetic force. Solenoids are found in many conventional machines, such as coin-operated machines, vending machines, coin-operated arcade games, or change machines; they all work on the same principle. They are also found in many electromechanical devices, such as copiers. One can also use a solenoid to switch an electrical circuit on and off; this is called a (mechanical) relay. When used as relays, small solenoid allows a low-power circuit to move a switch controlling the current in a higher-power circuit. The resulting linear work produced could either pull or push in configuration.
Effect of surface roughness on working of electromagnets
Published in Alka Mahajan, B.A. Modi, Parul Patel, Technology Drivers: Engine for Growth, 2018
In the recent development of integrated technologies and automation, electromechanical devices play a key role to sense and actuate the system. Electromechanical devices convert electrical energy to mechanical energy and vice versa. Most of the electromechanical devices consist of stationary electric circuit elements and one or more moving elements made up of soft magnetic material or permanent magnet (Furlani, 2001). Moving magnet actuator is one of the most effective assemblies of electromechanical devices such as switchgears, auto-locking devices, etc. The process of latching and unlatching is controlled by the functioning of moving magnet actuators. In the present research paper, study of the behaviour of magnets in an electromechanical device is studied. In the device under consideration, a fixed magnet and a spring loaded moving magnet are kept in the assembly surrounded by an electric coil. Both the magnets are made of soft ferromagnetic material. In no-supply condition or rest position, plunger/moving magnet is suspended on a spring above a fixed core as shown in Figure 1.
Prototyping a novel compact 3-DOF hydraulic robotic actuator via metallic additive manufacturing
Published in Virtual and Physical Prototyping, 2022
Weijun Wang, Feng Tang, Chen Zheng, Tian Xie, Chaoyang Ma, Yicha Zhang
The applications of robots and robot manipulators are becoming increasingly extensive in various domains. Stipulations on the size, weight, flexibility, and resistance of robots have increased. With the development of newer processing techniques, materials, and innovative design methods, traditional industrial or humanoid robots can be redesigned to reduce weight, become compact, perform better, and be more flexible. In robots, actuators are key power elements which are usually electromechanical devices that generate electrical, magnetic, pneumatic, hydraulic, optical, or other forces to drive shafts or actuate controlled movements of equipment. Currently, there are three main types of actuators for robots, including electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic types (Suzumori and Faudzi 2018). These actuators have different advantages and disadvantages respectively. The main advantages of electrical actuators are small size, ease of control, high control accuracy, and fast response. The advantages of hydraulic actuators include high-force density, high robustness to environmental impact, and ease of adding high-force degrees of freedom. But the weak points of hydraulic actuators are heavy and large in size, complex in control and relative expensive in manufacturing. While pneumatic actuators are relative cheap and easy for control. However, their disadvantages include imprecise control, low accuracy, and poor efficiency (Katz 2018; Zhang 2010). Among the three types of actuators, hydraulic actuators are widely used in high-DOF (degree-of-freedom) machines, where high-force DOFs can be added relatively easily using hydraulic actuators instead of electrical or pneumatic actuators. These applied hydraulic actuators are usually big in size and require much space for system installation. Hence, there are quite less cases for robots installed with hydraulic actuators, except some mobile robots or robot manipulators that need high power capability. For example, in the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, hydraulic rotary actuators were used in HyQ2Max for hip abduction and hip flexion, and a hydraulic cylinder was used for knee flexion (Semini et al. 2015). Hydraulic linear cylinders were used in the Bigdog project of Boston Dynamics n.d..