A planar electromagnetic actuator based on two layer coil assembly for micro applications

In this paper, the concept of a two layer coil based electromagnetic actuator for planar motions is presented. The actuator is composed of two pairs of fixed overlapped 2D electric drive coils and a mobile part consists of permanent magnets arrays which perform motions in xy plane due to the generation of Lorentz force. A multi-layer printed circuit board is used for the two layers of drive coils. An electromagnetic model of the actuator has been developed in order to compute the electromagnetic force exerted on the magnets arrays. A prototype of the device has been manufactured and tested. The mobile part displacement along the two displacement axes have been shown and determined using image processing method.