Modeling, analysis, and design for magnetic levitation with unlimited roll and pitch rotations and a pen-shaped haptic interface handle

Abstract

This paper describes two different designs; an unlimited roll and pitch design and a pen-shaped haptic interface design, of a magnetic levitation system developed at the human robot interaction lab in University of Hawaii at Manoa. With a previous coil and magnet setup, a levitated body that contained two permanent magnets was able to be operated at a maximum height of 31 mm (25 mm air gap) and rotated up to 40 degrees both in roll and pitch with unlimited yaw. As a result of modeling forces and torques and evaluating required coil currents and condition numbers of different shapes, sizes, orientations, and configurations of magnets over various coil configurations, a setup that consists of an array of twenty seven coils and a levitated object that contains six permanent magnets was designed. The setup achieved levitation in 6 degrees of freedom and unlimited roll, pitch, and yaw rotation was performed at a fixed height of 42 mm (6 mm air gap). In addition, a high response pen shape haptic interface with two permanent magnets was fabricated for interactive computer simulations and its performance was verified with a levitation trajectory following.