Vibration actuator capable of movement on magnetic substance based on new motion principle

In every country, the construction of large steel bridges, such as cable-stayed bridges, is carried out actively, and the number of bridges has been progressively increasing. In the case of large steel bridges, inspections must be carried out every five years. Because frequent inspections of such bridges are required, working robots capable of performing inspections in difficult environments would be very useful. This paper proposes a vibration actuator with a very simple structure capable of movement on a magnetic substance via the inertial force of a mass–spring model. Through theoretical analysis using the energy method, it was determined that the vibration actuator is propelled by the difference between the frictional forces acting during the forward and backward motions of the actuator. The experimental and analytical results were compared, verifying the validity of the novel motion principle. Additionally, based on the asymmetric magnetic field that arises when a copper wire is asymmetrically wound around the iron core of an electromagnet, a method of increasing the magnetic field strength at one pole of the electromagnet is newly proposed. By attaching an iron plate to the iron core of the electromagnet, the effects of the resulting asymmetric magnetic field of the electromagnet on the actuator motion were examined. The experimental results indicate that the actuator is able to climb upward while pulling a load mass of 110 g. The maximum efficiency of the actuator was 20.5 % for an actuator pulling its own weight. The efficiency of the actuator with the attached iron plate was considerably greater than that without the iron plate

非線形弾性要素による内部力補償に基づく無段階変位–力変換機構の創生 ― 微小操作力で強大な磁気力・把持力・制動力・張力を制御可能とするロボット要素 ―

Tohoku University博士（情報科学）thesi