This paper presents a new method to eliminate deviation in positioning caused by coil’s heat generation in magnetostrictive actuators. The advantages of the proposed system are compactness, high controllability and high reliability. The actuator package consists of Galfenol as active element and a magnification mechanism combined with a Peltier element or thermoelectric cooler (TEC). By using the temperature sensor, a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) is activated to reduce the temperature of the coil. However, the reduction of temperature by TEC alone is not enough to eliminate the error and controlling of applied voltage is also required. A simple PI controller for coil’s current is combined with TEC and by reducing the temperature and current simultaneously, the positioning error is vanished completely.

Date Published: 18 April 2016
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 9800, Behavior and Mechanics of Multifunctional Materials and Composites 2016, 980008 (18 April 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2222990

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9800:
Behavior and Mechanics of Multifunctional Materials and Composites 2016
Nakhiah C. Goulbourne, Editor(s)