A novel vibration actuator based on active magnetic spring

The paper presents a theoretical study and experimental results regarding an original, low cost actuator, with a simple design, that uses an active magnetic spring in order to generate vibration. The analysis performed in the paper shows that the differential magnetic spring is the best solution for replacing the classical elastic suspensions in vibration generators. Mathematical modeling enables the determination of the parameters that characterize the actuator operation in the frequency domain. The experimental results show that the vibrator has, practically, a linear characteristic for oscillations of the order ±3 mm in amplitude and has a resonance frequency of approximately 36.5 Hz. The proposed model can generate dynamic forces of up to 15 N for an input sinusoidal current of 0.1A (peak). The maximum force supported by the magnetic spring is 42 N.