Magnetic circuit design for miniaturized magnetic shape memory alloy actuators

Conference of Conference Smart Sensors, Actuators, and MEMS VI ; Conference Date: 24 April 2013 Through 26 April 2013; Conference Code:98305International audienceMagnetic shape memory alloy (MSMA) is a relatively new kind of smart material. Upon application of a large magnetic field, it exhibits actuation strains up to 10% similar to thermal shape memory alloy (SMA) but shows significantly reduced response time in the millisecond range. Currently, application is restricted by the brittleness of the single crystal material, its nonlinear behaviour and the difficulty to generate and apply a magnetic field around 0.6T in order to exploit the full actuation potential. The focus of this work is on the design of miniaturized magnetic circuits for bulk MSMAs. Various circuit designs are compared such as toroidal and series-parallel shapes. Equivalent circuit as well as finite element simulation is used to increase the magnetic field in a characteristic air gap where the smart material is placed. A symmetrical toroid coil layout with the MSMA element at the center that allows easy integration of the actuator in various applications is described. Static characterization results of this actuator are provided. Using the described magnetic circuit and 5M - MSMA rods with dimensions of 20x2.5x1mm3 , a peak displacement of 0.8mm and a blocked force of 4.5N was obtained. Further design guidelines for such miniaturized actuators are given