Nonlinear Analysis of New Electromagnetic Vibration Actuator

Abstract

The inspection and maintenance of infrastructure such as bridges, which may collapse during an earthquake, is important. Numerous robots have been proposed for structural inspections. These robots have complicated mechanisms and require the adhered device to have a relatively large weight. The authors previously proposed an electromagnetic vibration actuator for structural inspection. However, an analysis that considers the nonlinearity of the translational spring was not performed for this actuator. In this study, a dynamic analysis that considers the nonlinearity of the vibration component is performed. Furthermore, a prototype of the vibration actuator is constructed and its movement characteristics are measured. The measurement and theoretical analysis results are in relatively good agreement, verifying the validity of the theoretical analysis. Based on the theoretical analysis, the movement characteristics of the vibration actuator can be calculated for various parameter values. This paper demonstrates the possibility of applying the theoretical analysis to calculations for other highly nonlinear models in which the electromagnetic force and vibration systems are combined.