A reciprocating permanent magnetic actuator for driving magnetic micro robots in fluids

Abstract

Magnetic-based driving applications are receiving increasing attention. This study proposed a novel reciprocating permanent magnetic actuator (PMA) to manipulate magnetic micro robots to impact and clear blockages inside fluid pipes in a linear path. The PMA consisted of a cylindrical permanent magnet and a crank slider structure. A straight pipe with a circular cross-sectional area was located in front of the actuator to study the driving performance of PMA. A micro permanent magnet with a cylinder shape was employed as a working robot for manipulation inside the pipe. Firstly, analytical formulas were derived to obtain the magnetic driving force acting on the micro robot and determine the most suitable magnet configuration. The finite element simulation verified the analytical calculation. The developed reciprocating PMA prototype was then introduced, and the PMA and micro robot’s motion performance was analysed. Lastly, preliminary experiments were carried out for evaluating the micro robot’s motion characteristics. Performance tests for different excitation frequencies, flow rates, viscosities, and axial distances, indicating that PMA could manipulate the magnetic micro robot inside the pipe. The results confirmed that the developed PMA could effectively drive the micro robot with the advantage of consecutive magnetic driving. Especially, the micro robot featured good flexibility, rapid response, and a simple structure, suggesting that this micro robot may play an important role in industrial and medical applications, such as blockage elimination and thrombus clearance.

Design and Dynamics Modelling of a Novel Rotary Magnetic Microrobot

“…Figure 7 and Figure 8 show the control input and MRs' trajectory. In the conducted simulation, MRs move from [0,1,0] and [1,0,3] millimeters to [7,11,15] and [10,13,3] millimeters. For this purpose, in the first step, an external magnetic field for 87.2 and 15.3s respectively with angular velocities of 50 and 65 /s is applied in the x-direction to compensate for this axis position error.…”

“…Various mechanisms, including electrics, acoustics, magnetic fields, thermal energy, and light, are utilized for actuating MRs [12][13][14]. Among these options, the use of a magnetic field is widely preferred due to its ability to penetrate different materials without causing damage while swiftly generating force and torque.…”

Design and stability analysis of the gear-type mobile mechanism with a single actuator

“…Based on the spring loaded inverted pendulum dynamics model, Haoran et al designed a monopod jumping robot 19 . Qu et al proposed a novel type of mobile robot driven by magnetic force, which can play a role in the future medical field 20 .…”

A worm-inspired robot based on origami structures driven by the magnetic field

“…Among others, the magnetic actuation is equipped with a contact-free form of penetration into most materials, engendering harmlessly invasive operations [27][28][29][30]. Over the past decades, the widespread applications of magnetic field on the functioning of the permanent magnet contact devices have been extensively studied [31][32][33][34][35][36]. In particular, the locomotion mechanisms of origami structures in a narrow space oriented by the permanent magnet have been explored by many scholars [37,38].…”