This work presents a study of the traction, normal and stall forces in a two-sided planar actuator with orthogonal planar windings and a mover that comprises two cars magnetically coupled to each other through two pairs of permanent magnets (PMs). There is no ferromagnetic armature core because of the permanent magnets array in the mover and orthogonal traction forces can be generated in order to move both cars jointly in any direction on a plane. The stall force is the minimal force necessary to break up the magnetic coupling between the two cars. When one of the cars is subjected to an external force through the x- or y-axis, the cars can become out of alignment with respect to each other and the planar actuator cannot work properly. The behavior of the forces was modelled by numerical and analytical methods and experimental results were obtained from tests carried out on a prototype. The average sensitivity of the measured static propulsion planar force along either axis is 4.48 N/A. With a 20-mm displacement between the cars along the direction of the x-axis and no armature current, a magnetic stall force of 17.26 N is produced through the same axis in order to restore the alignment of the two cars.

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