Moving parts | EPFL Graph Search

Machines include both fixed and moving parts. The moving parts have controlled and constrained motions. Moving parts are machine components excluding any moving fluids, such as fuel, coolant or hydraulic fluid. Moving parts also do not include any mechanical locks, switches, nuts and bolts, screw caps for bottles etc. A system with no moving parts is described as "solid state". Mechanical efficiency and wear The amount of moving parts in a machine is a factor in its mechanical efficiency. The greater the number of moving parts, the greater the amount of energy lost to heat by friction between those parts. For example, in a modern automobile engine, roughly 7% of the total power obtained from burning the engine's fuel is lost to friction between the engine's moving parts. Conversely, the fewer the number of moving parts, the greater the efficiency. Machines with no moving par

Electrically-Driven Soft Fluidic Actuators Combining Stretchable Pumps With Thin McKibben Muscles

Vito Cacucciolo, Herbert Shea

Soft wearable robots could provide support for lower and upper limbs, increase weight lifting ability, decrease energy required for walking and running, and even provide haptic feedback. However, to date most of wearable robots are based on electromagnetic motors or fluidic actuators, the former being rigid and bulky, the latter requiring external pumps or compressors, greatly limiting integration and portability. Here we describe a new class of electrically-driven soft fluidic muscles combining thin, fiber-like McKibben actuators with fully Stretchable Pumps. These pumps rely on ElectroHydroDynamics, a solid-state pumping mechanism that directly accelerates liquid molecules by means of an electric field. Requiring no moving parts, these pumps are silent and can be bent and stretched while operating. Each electrically-driven fluidic muscle consists of one Stretchable Pump and one thin McKibben actuator, resulting in a slender soft device weighing 2 g. We characterized the response of these devices, obtaining a blocked force of 0.84 N and a maximum stroke of 4 mm. Future work will focus on decreasing the response time and increasing the energy efficiency. Modular and straightforward to integrate in textiles, these electrically-driven fluidic muscles will enable soft smart clothing with multi-functional capabilities for human assistance and augmentation.

2020

Comparative study and selection criteria of linear motors

Samuel Chevailler

Initially, linear motors have been particularly dedicated to transportation systems. Nowadays, linear motors are meant to replace a system using a rotating motor and a transmission to realize a linear movement. With linear motors the performances increase considerably since the mechanical limitations are removed. This leads to a better precision, a higher acceleration and a higher speed of the moving part. Therefore, direct drives with linear motors are increasingly used in industrial applications although these solutions need often more investment costs. Different linear motor structures and technologies exist. They can be either induction or synchronous motors with a transverse or a longitudinal flux. Furthermore, linear motors may have several topologies. They can be either long or short stator and double or single sided. All these variants may be combined giving therefore numerous possibilities to perform a linear movement. Hence, to make the best choice for a given application, a global methodology based on the comparison of optimized motors is presented in the thesis. This design methodology is based on figure of merits which are bound to the specifications of the studied application. This method differs from a conventional one since optimized motors with the same objective function are compared. The optimized motors are obtained by an indirect method based on an optimization algorithm (Sequential Quadratic Programming, SQP). An indirect approach differs from the conventional deterministic one for which at least one parameter must be fixed to obtain a motor pre design, since there are constraints and validity domain which are introduced. The proposed methodology can be applied either to rotating or to linear motor design. The use of an optimization program to perform motor designs requires analytical motor models. The models developed in this thesis take into account the thermal behavior of the motors in order to achieve more realistic results. Furthermore, the analytical models of synchronous motors are thoroughly studied leading to several interesting conclusions. They are based on well known algorithms developed for rotating motors. The proposed models are very accurate in comparison with the FEM program, except for a transversal flux linear motor for which the obtained results are not worthwhile enough to be optimized. This is caused by the structure of the motor which is close to a reluctant motor and imposes to model the motor by a lumped magnetic scheme. Moreover, a global analysis of the windings due to the particularity of linear motor to have an even or odd number of poles is presented in the thesis. The methodology proposed in the thesis is successfully used for an innovative application which deals with a multi mobile system for a lift. For this lift, several cabins travel in the same shaft implying linear motors to move autonomously each cabin. First, by comparing the different motor technologies, the best motor type is selected. Afterwards, the motor windings for the selected motors are analyzed and compared in order to find the most adapted one for this application. The motor is finally optimized, leading to a motor design proposal. This motor design takes into account the thermal behavior, the material cost and the electrical characteristic of the linear motor.

EPFL2006

Diamagnetic levitation system

François Barrot, Roland Moser

The invention concerns an inertial sensor or an actuator based on diamagnetic levitation, said inertial sensor or actuator comprising support means serving as main support body for an inertial sensor or for an actuator, a two dimensional array of permanent magnets and a diamagnetic element facing the said array characterized in that said diamagnetic material constitutes the inertial mass or the moving part of the actuator.

2004

Comparative study and selection criteria of linear motors

Samuel Chevailler

EPFL2006