A Micro Conveyance Actuator based on Superconducting Magnetic Levitation

Abstract

The design and the driving characteristics of a micro conveyance actuator based on superconducting magnetic levitation are reported. This actuator consists of three parts; a superconductor (Y-Ba-Cu-O), a stator layer made by patterned copper electrodes on the poly-imide film and a slider with four permanent magnets (the size of one magnet is 1mm cube). This conveyance actuator is free from particle generation, because there is no contact between moving and stationary parts by the magnetic levitation. The position of the slider is controlled by the current in patterned electrodes. In this paper, we discuss the driving characteristics of the linear and rotary motion by using the micro-step actuation. We have obtained the quick conveyance with the speed of 280μm/s in the range of 2.8mm and the precise positioning with the accuracy of 40μm by combining the step actuation in the entire area and the micro-step actuation in the local area near the target position.