Hybrid torque modeling of spherical actuators with cylindrical-shaped magnet poles

A ball-joint-like three-degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) spherical actuator which features a ball-shaped rotor with multiple permanent magnet (PM) poles and a spherical-shell-like stator with air-core coils is proposed to achieve omni-directional smooth motion in only one joint. Unlike previous study in which dihedral-shaped PMs are employed as the rotor poles, this paper utilizes cylindrical-shaped PMs to facilitate the fabrication and reduce the system cost significantly. Torque output of the spherical actuator is formulated with a hybrid method, i.e., using both analytical and experimental methodologies. Specifically, the analytical torque model of spherical actuator with dihedral-shaped PM poles is derived. Then a research prototype with cylindrical-shaped PM poles is developed, and a torque measurement testbed is built up to conduct experiment on the prototype. As the torque variation trend of actuators using two different types of PM poles with respect to the rotor orientation is similar, parameters in the analytical model are adjusted to fit with the experimental measurements. The resulting torque model can be employed for real-time motion control of the actuator. The cylindrical-shaped PM poles also reduce the inertial moment of the rotor by 60%, which is favorable for achieving better dynamic performance of the spherical actuator. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.