Design of FePd spring actuators

Taishi Wada*, Cheng-Chun Lee** and Minoru Taya***

Center for Intelligent Materials and Systems, Univ. of Washington,
BOX 352600, Seattle, WA98195-2600, USA

Abstract
A design concept of the spring actuators based on the ferromagnetic shape memory alloy (FSMA) is presented. The coil
spring made by a FSMA is activated by the attractive magnetic force produced by electromagnets, which is usually not
uniform. When the magnetic field is applied, each turn of the spring comes into contact with the neighboring turns one by
one, stacking from the turn closer to the yoke of the electromagnet. As a result, entire shrinkage of the spring accompanied
by large liner stroke is achieved. This actuator is energy-efficient, since almost all magnet flux originated from
electromagnet discharges into the ferromagnetic spring. The performance of the spring actuator, i.e. the output force and
stroke, depends on many factors, such as the diameter and the pitch of the spring or the dimension of the cross section of the
spring wire, and so on. We processed successfully a spring actuator driven by a hybrid magnet based on the above principle
by using polycrystalline FePd alloy. Since the stiffness of the FePd coil spring become softer due to the martensite phase
transformation, the movement of the actuator is accelerated during actuation.

Keywords: actuator, coil spring, FePd, wire, ferromagnetic shape memory alloy, superelasticity, hybrid magnet,
electromagnet, permanent magnet

1. INTRODUCTION
Recently, strong attentions are paid to ferromagnetic shape memory alloys (FSMAs) as important smart
materials, which are adaptive for lightweight, yet high power engineering actuators [1-3]. The conventional thermoelastic
shape memory alloys (SMAs), which can be activated by either temperature or external loading, such as TiNi alloys,
exhibit large strain and also bear large stress. However their actuation speed is usually slow, since the actuation speed is
limited by the heating/cooling rates of the SMAs. On the other hand, FSMAs are driven by applied magnetic field and/or
magnetic field gradient, which cause the deformation due to the martensitic phase transformation, and hence can provide
very fast actuation speed with reasonably large strain and stress capability. Among various FSMAs, the polycrystalline
FePd alloy [4] is practically promising to be applied as an actuator material, owing to the good mechanical properties, such
as shape memory effects, superelasticity and high ductility, and so on.
Since the uniform (constant) magnetic field alone is found to be disadvantageous as a driving force [5], we
proposed so-called hybrid mechanism for actuator applications [6] and is adopted in the present paper. The key step in the
mechanism is the stress-induced martensite phase transformation produced by applied magnetic field gradient, thus
enhancing the displacement, as the stiffness of Fe-Pd is reduced from stiff to soft during the austenite to martensite
transformation [7].
The present paper shows a new concept of the spring actuator based on FSMA alloys driven by hybrid magnet
system composed of permanent magnets and electromagnets. The performance of the FePd coil spring actuator controlled
by DC amplifier is investigated. The development of ductile polycrystalline FePd wires and processing it into coil springs
are also described.

2. BACKGROUND OF DESIGN CONCEPT

2.1 New design of a linear actuator different from conventional linear motors
It is beneficial for accomplishment of both large stroke and force of the spring actuator made from FSMA. It is
because that the stiffness of the spring made from FSMA become smaller than those of the spring made from the other
ferromagnetic materials due to the high mechanical properties, such as stress-induced martensite phase transformation or
superelasticity.
Various kinds of actuators, which convert electromagnet energy to mechanical energy to achieve a liner
movement or stroke, have been elaborated. Although a linear motor actuator is frequently used to get a large liner stroke,
use of permanent or electromagnet is crucial for smart designing of high performance actuators. It should be pointed out
that the action of the coil spring can reach far from the power source (electromagnets), since the output force and stroke can
transmit through the long coil spring. This is an essential difference from the linear motor.

*[email protected], **[email protected], ***[email protected]; Center for Intelligent Materials and

Systems, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, BOX352600, Seattle, WA98195-2600, USA
 Magnetic force cannot reach. Magnetic force can reach.
Ferromagnetic Ferromagnetic
material Ferromagnetic SMA spring
Arrows FSMA
material is too
denotes
far from EM Spring
Magnet
force

No motion Shrink

Electromagnet Electromagnet

A commercial solenoid The present spring actuator

Fig.1. Essential difference of axial linear movement between the solenoid and the present spring actuator.

Here it should be pointed out that the design concept of the present spring actuator is similar to the conventional
solenoid, which is commercially and generally available. However the present axial actuator has the large advantage over
the solenoid. Figure 1 shows the essential difference between the present actuator and the solenoid. If the ferromagnetic
material portion of the solenoid, which is a movable shaft, were far from the electromagnet, the shaft would show little
movement, since the magnetic force originated from the electromagnet can not hardly reach. On the other hand, the present
spring actuator could eliminate this week point. Moreover the stroke of the spring actuator can be much larger than that of
the solenoid, since the entire FSMA spring itaself can feel the magnetic flux which transmits the spring wire and reaches
the end-top of the spring. One of the enormous merits of the present spring actuator is that the large stroke can be achieved
and furthermore the larger stroke can be generated by using “the stacking effect of the spring wire, as described later.

2.2 Force originated from electromagnets

For simplicity we assume that the force generated by magnetic field, which acts on ferromagnetic materials,
classify into two cases; one is the short-range force, the other is the long-range force. The short-range force, F1, is a kind of
Coulomb force between two ferromagnetic plates separated by the distance of d, and is written as, F1 = B 2 S 2 2πµ0 d 2 , where
B is magnetic induction, S is the surface area of the each plate and µ0 is permeability of free space. The long-range force
along x-axis, F2, arises under the inhomogeneous magnetic field strength, and acts on a magnetic dipole, m, and given by
F2 = mV dB dx , where V is the volume of the magnetic dipole. F1 is possibly larger than the force F2, since the force F1 is in
inverse proportion to d2 and hence becomes huge when d is very small. The design of the spring actuator is based on the
above-mentioned concept in that the driving force of the actuator comes mainly from the force F1 with small or zero
distance d. It is noted that the proposed concept of the spring-based actuator, which is activated by not only the force F2 but
also the strong force F1, becomes more efficient by using the stacking effect of the spring wire, which would be clarified
later on. Note that it is very important to use the force F1 efficiently when we optimize the designing of the present spring
actuator.

2.3 Energy efficiency

For increasing the energy efficiency of the spring actuator, it is better to decrease the stiffness of the spring. The
input electromagnetic energy Ein is expressed as the sum of the output energy (the work of the actuator) Eout, the elastic
energy E = ∫ (σε ) / 2dε , which is stored in the coil spring, and the energy loss W, that is, Ein = Eout + E + W. The energy
loss can not be avoidable when the energy conversion from electromagnet to mechanical energy occurs. From this point of
view, this actuator must have more advantage since almost all magnetic flux originated from electromagnet is discharged
into the ferromagnetic spring, as discussed in the next section. We assume that the energy loss can be ignored. Then, the
above formula is written as Ein = Eout + E. Since the energy efficiency is described by Eout/Ein = 1- E/ Ein, the smaller elastic
energy stored in the spring, E, results in higher energy efficiency. This means that use of the spring with smaller stiffness is
better for designing the energy efficient actuator.
 The stiffness of the spring made from FSMAs becomes small when the materials strained, because these
materials show the stress-induced martensite phase transformation. If we use FSMA materials, the energy stored in the coil
spring, E, become small when the spring shrinks or elongates, and hence high energy-efficiency can be obtained. The
so-called hybrid mechanism, which is described in the previous section, is in accord with the above energetic consideration.

3. MECHANISM

The coil spring made from a ferromagnetic material is mounted on a yoke which is inserted in the electromagnet,
see Fig.2(a). The z-axis is parallel to the center axis of the yoke from which the magnetic flux is generated and goes into the
bottom of the coil spring. Figure 2(b) shows the cross section of the spring wire, which is the rectangular shape with the
long side, a, and the short side, b. When the coil spring subjected to a external force along the center axis of the spring, it
shrinks from the length of L=n×δ into n×b and each turn of the spring completely contacts with the neighboring turns,
where δ and n are the pitch and the turns of the spring, respectively. That is, the coil spring becomes the shape of a hollow
cylinder after entire shrinking, see Fig.2(c). In the event that the first turn of the coil spring is directly fixed to the yoke, the
pitch δ should be the function of the value of z, i.e. δ=δ (z), where z is the distance from the yoke along the center axis of the

D
b
a
(b) Cross Stroke = n×(δ-b)
z-axis
L section of the
spring wire
Pitch δ

(A) (B) n×b

yoke

Electro
Magnet (c) Hollow
cylindrical shape
(a) Side view of the of the coil spring (a) (b) (c)
spring actuator driven by after shrinkage
a electromagnet
Fig.3. Mechanism of the spring actuator movement. The first
turn of the coil spring denoted as (A). The portion (B), which
Fig.2. Schematic illustration of the ferromagnetic is stacking of the coils spring, acts as a kind of yoke. Finally
spring actuator. L is the length of the coil spring the all turns of the spring comes into contact with each other
with n turns. and stack completely on the yoke like (c).

spring. The function δ(z) should increase slightly when the

value of z is very small, and the derivative dδ/dz (z=0) must
z-axis be zero in order to connect the coil spring to the yoke
directly.
Flux Flux Figure 3 shows the sequential mechanism of the
spring actuator movement. When the electromagnet is
switched on, the first turn of the spring (A) is attracted to the
Yoke Yoke yoke and comes into contact with the top face of the yoke,
(a) Circular cross section (b) Rectangular cross section see Fig.3(a) and compare with Fig.2(a). This turn (A) works
as a new yoke after contact with the original yoke. Therefore
Fig.4. Cross section view of the coil spring and stacking effect the second turn of the spring is attracted to the first turn (A)
of the coil spring. The magnetic flux can easily go into the and comes into contact with it. Since the same motion is
stack of the rectangular cross section of the spring wire. repeated, the turns which contact with the neighboring turns
works as if they were yoke (potion (B)), as indicated in Fig.3(b). Accordingly all turns of spring comes into contact with the
neighboring turns, accomplishing that the coil spring shrinks entirely, see Fig.3(c). Hence the maximum stroke of the
spring actuator is n×(δ-b).
In order to make full use of the above-mentioned mechanism, i.e. “the stacking effect of the coil spring”, each
turn of the spring should contact with the neighboring turns perfectly. Thus, the rectangular shape of the cross section of the
spring wire is better than the circular one, even though the circular cross section is more popular and conventional, see
Fig.4. The magnetic flux can easily penetrates into the stack of the spring wire with rectangular cross section rather than
that with the circular cross section.
Since the magnetic attractive force is usually very small at the top portion of the coil spring before shrinking, the
stacking mechanism might be the only possible way to move the coil spring. Note that the mechanism is not complete if the
first turn of the coil spring closest to the yoke does not make contact with it. Thus, the pitch δ should be determined so as to
induce the elastic or superelastic deformation of the first turn of the coil spring due to the magnetic force around the top
portion of the yoke.

4. RESULTS

4.1 FePd wires

When a coil spring deforms, the FePd wire
shear-stress concentration occurs near the surface of φ 1.2 mm
the spring wire. The above concept is workable as far
as the coil spring is made from a ferromagnetic
material and shows elastic and reversible deformation
if the pitch δ is small. However it would bring even
larger actuation of the spring actuator if it were made
of FSMA material, since it shows superelasticity
above the martensite transformation start temperature, FePd rod
so that the stress concentration at the surface of the φ 5 mm
spring wire is accommodated by the phase
transformation. Especially when the pitch δ of the
spring is designed to be large to get huge stroke of the FePd wire
actuator, large shear stress arises at the surface of the φ 1.7 mm
spring wire. In this case, use of FSMA is quite
effective for accommodation of the stress
concentration and increase of the spring displacement. Fig.5. FePd wires with circular cross section cold-drawn
Since it was found that FePd alloy has high from FePd rod.
mechanical properties and has high ductility, a sharp
contrast from the other FSMAs, we adopted FePd
alloy for the FSMA coil spring driven by the hybrid mechanism. Figure 5 shows the FePd rod and FePd wires which we
processed successfully. The FePd rod was melted and solidified in a induction furnace. The FePd wires with circular cross
section were made from the FePd rod with 5mm diameter by using the method of cold drawing in room temperature. We
also processed successfully the FePd wire with rectangular cross section by means of the process similar to that of the wire
with circular cross section. These wires were annealed in a furnace and winded into coil springs mechanically and annealed
again to keep the shapes of the springs. Figure 6 shows the photographs of the FePd coil springs made from the FePd wires,
where the specifications of the coil springs are summarized in the table. Three kinds of the FePd coil springs were made;
FePd(thin), FePd(thick) and FePd(rect), the first two have circular and the last has rectangular cross section. The FePd coil
springs have almost the same diameter of spring D, however have different spring constant because of the different shapes
and dimensions of the wire cross sections. Note that “a” is lager than “b” in the FePd(rect) coil spring, where “a” and “b”
are two sides of rectangular cross section of the wire shown in Fig.6(c). We can easily understand why the length of “a”
should be larger than “b” by seeing the illustration of Fig.4(b). The magnetic flux, which originated from the yoke, can go
into the stacking of the FePd wire, however can reach only limited height of the stacked wire, since the intensity of the
magnetic flux decrease during propagating into the stacked wire. From Figs.2-4, it is concluded that the shape of the cross
section of the FePd coil spring should be rectangular and the side “a” should be larger than the side “b”, as to obtain high
performance of the coil spring actuator.
 Circular cross section Rectangular cross section

FePd (thin) FePd (thick) FePd (rect) FePd (rect-L)

b

Length Diameter Shape of Dimensions of the Spring constant

FePd coil
of spring, of spring, the cross section spring wire, diameter, for 1 pitch,
springs
L [mm] D [mm] of the spring wire d [mm] k [N/mm]
FePd (thin) 53 25 circular d=1.2 0.29
FePd (thick) 34 26 circular d=1.7 2.3
FePd (rect) 70 26 rectangular a=2.0, b=1.2 1.5
FePd (rect-L) 95 26 rectangular a=2.5, b=1.9 5.3

Fig.6. FePd coil springs made from the FePd wires and their specifications.

4.2 FePd spring actuator

Sequential movement of FePd(thin) coil spring is exhibited in Fig.7. together with the movement of Fe coil
spring which has the same shape and dimensions as the FePd(thin) coil spring. These two coil springs are driven by the
hybrid magnet with the electric resistance of 20Ω, which is composed of not only electromagnets but also permanent
magnets. When the electromagnets are turned off, both FePd(thin) and Fe coil springs keep their natural length. The
FePd(thin) coil spring shrinks with the huge stroke of 20mm when the direct current of 1A is applied, see Fig.7(b). This
stroke is 20 times larger than that of Fe coil spring. It may show the high effect of use of FSMA as a coil spring. However,
the surprising difference looks too enormous, since the spring constant of FePd(thin) is only about 2.5 times softer than that
of Fe. It seems that the huge difference between them is caused not only by the effect of the hybrid mechanism of FSMA
but also by the stacking effect of the coil spring since the FePd(thin) spring shows stacking and Fe does not, as we can see
in Fig.7(b). Both effects are attributed to the 20 times improvement. When the direct current of 3A is applied, the
FePd(thin) coil spring exhibits complete shrinkage with 40mm displacement while Fe coil spring shrinks only 6mm, which
is 7 times smaller than FePd(thin). The difference of the displacement under electric current of 3A between the FePd(thin)
and Fe springs is smaller than that for the case of 1A. It is because that the movement of spring is not linear to the applied
direct current as described later in the next section. The actuation speed of the FePd(thin) spring actuator for entire
shrinkage is about 0.03s if the direct current of 3A is applied suddenly, i.e. the current-time curve is a kind of step function.
Note that the displacement of the spring shrinkage depends on the strength of the applied direct current and therefore can be
controlled and determined for a desired position by the applied direct current amplifier. This controllability and large stroke
of the present spring actuator would satisfy the high performance required for the use in several kinds of tough conditions.
 1mm 6mm

Fe spring

20mm
FePd(thin) 40mm
spring

Hybrid
magnet

5cm
(a) 0A (b) 1A (c) 3A

Fig.7. FePd (thin) coil spring actuator driven by hybrid magnet. The motion of the FePd spring is compared with the Fe spring
with the same shape and dimensions. The spring constant of FePd (thin) and Fe spring are 0.29N/mm and 0.84N/m,
respectively. The weight and electric resistance of the hybrid magnet are 0.3kg and 20Ω. The actuation speed of the FePd (thin)
actuator is about 0.03s. The applied direct current is the step function of time, i.e. ON-OFF mode.

5. DISCUSSION

5.1 Design concept of hybrid magnet driving unit

It should be pointed out in Fig.7 that use of hybrid magnet is also important in addition to use of FePd FSMA coil
spring in order to achieve the high performance of the spring actuator. Design concept of the hybrid magnet to drive the coil
spring is discussed here. The schematic illustration of the hybrid magnet used in Fig.7 is shown in Fig.8, which consists of
electromagnets, a permanent magnet and the yoke. During the time that the electromagnets are turned off, the magnetic flux
generated from the permanent magnet flows in the yoke and makes a close loop, as shown in Fig.8(a). After the
electromagnets are turned on, which produce the magnetic flux in the inverse direction to that of the permanent magnet, the
magnetic flux that comes both from the permanent magnet and from the electromagnets is pushed upward and penetrate
into the spring wire. As a result, each turn of the coil spring is attracted to the permanent magnet and accumulates on it,
working as a temporary yoke. Since both magnetic powers of the permanent magnet and electromagnets are utilized, the
hybrid magnet is much stronger than the electromagnets itself, yet can accomplish the on-off switching unlike the actuator
with only permanent magnet. A similar concept was used to design a powerful reactance electromagnetic motor [8].
To procure the closed loop of magnetic flux by using the yoke, the relative position and direction between a coil
spring and a permanent magnet should be investigated in Fig.9, where the five kinds of positions, A, B, C, D and E are
considered. The position A and D are useless since the closed loop can not be realized. Thus, we focus only on position B,
C and E. In Fig.9(a), which illustrate the shrinking motion along a permanent magnet, the position B is considered to be
preferable than the position C since the movement of the coil spring in the position B is usually better than the position C.
Consequently both the position B for sliding along and the position E shrinking toward a permanent magnet are selected to
be most useful. Figure 10 shows the photos of the two types of the hybrid magnet, which are designed and manufactured
here. The hybrid magnet TYPE A is utilizing the position E, where the coil spring is placed on the top of the permanent
magnet, as shown in Fig.10(a), and the coil spring shrinks toward the hybrid magnet if the electromagnet is turned on.
While the hybrid magnet TYPE B is utilizing the position E, where the coil spring is surrounded by some numbers of the
permanent magnets, as shown in Fig10(b), and the coil spring shrinks along the permanent magnets. In this paper, only the
TYPE A is used. It should be pointed out that the TYPE A and TYPE B have almost the same high performances.
 FePd
Coil Spring
Position A
Position D
works
Permanent as yoke N N Position C N
Magnet N
N S N S

Position B S S
S S Position E
Electro
Magnet Permanent magnet
(a) Shrink (Sliding) (b)Shrink
yoke along PM toward PM

(a) EM: turn OFF (b) EM: turn ON Fig.9. Relative position and direction of the coil
PM: Closed loop PM: Flux is pushed up spring against the permanent magnet. Five types of
positions, A, B, C, D and E exist. The position A
Fig.8. Concept of the hybrid magnet composed of electromagnets, and D are not utilized since the closed loop can not
a permanent magnet and the yoke to achieve the closed loop. be realized.

Coil spring PMs

Coil spring
yoke
PM N N S S

S N
S N S N yoke

Permanent Four
EM permanent
magnet EM EM
magnets EM
3cm 3cm

(a) Hybrid magnet TYPE A which uses the position E in (b) Hybrid magnet TYPE B which uses the position B in
Fig.9. The coil spring is placed on a permanent magnet. Fig.9. The coil spring is surrounded by a few permanent
magnets.
Fig.10. Two types of hybrid magnet which are designed and manufactured by the present authors.

5.2 FEM calculation

In order to optimize the designing of the hybrid magnet for driving the FePd spring, it is quite useful for us to
calculate the magnetic force by FEM. Figure 11 shows the other design of a hybrid magnet utilizing the Position E and one
of the results of the FEM calculations of magnetic vectors and fluxes performed by using ANSYS, assuming that the
Neodymium permanent magnet has the relative permeability µr=1.17 and the coercive force Hc=835,000(A/m). In the
calculation, the actual B-H curves of FePd and Fe yoke are inputted. Note that the magnetic flux should not leak out into
the air from the yoke. Magnetic flux should be confined both when the electromagnet is turned on and off. If the magnetic
flux, which is originated from both electromagnet and permanent magnet, makes a closed loop in the FePd spring wire and
the yoke, we can get strong magnetic forces acting on the FePd spring wire.
 FePd spring Flux vectors Flux lines
in hybrid magnet in hybrid magnet
(Axis symmetry) (Axis symmetry)

Hybrid
magnet

Shrink

Fig.11. FEM calculation of magnetic flux in a hybrid magnet

with Position E, which differs from Type A and B.

5.3 Performance of FePd coil spring actuators

Both motion of lifting-up and pushing-up of the weight are achievable in the present spring actuator. Figure 12
shows the lifting-up motion of the FePd spring actuator, where combination of the FePd(thick) coil spring and the hybrid
magnet TYPE A are used. The hybrid magnet amounted upside down and the weight (dead load) are connected to the tip of
the FePd(thin) coil spring. After the electromagnets are turned on, the weight is lifted up immediately. The performances of
this actuator are the force (weight) of 400gf and the stroke of 15mm, better than the first design, i.e. the FePd(thin) spring
actuator, where the maximum force of 100gf and stroke of 40mm were recorded.
Pushing-up motion of the FePd spring actuator is shown in Fig.13, where the FePd(rect) coil spring and the
hybrid magnet TYPE A are utilized. The FePd(thick) coil spring is amounted on the hybrid magnet and the weight (dead

Hybrid
magnet

FePd
(thick) 7mm 15mm
coil spring

400g

(a) 0A (b) 1.4A (c) 2A 5cm

Fig.12. Lift-up motion achieved by using FePd (thick) spring actuator that can deliver the output-force of 400gf and stroke of
15mm, which are the larger force and smaller stroke than FePd (thin) spring actuator. The hybrid magnet of TYPE A, which is
same as Fig.7, i.e. FePd (thin), is used.
 Weight
550g FePd rectangular
coil spring
Glass
casing 15mm 35mm

Hybrid
magnet

5cm
(a) 0A (b) 1.2A (c) 3A
Fig.13. Pushing-up motion achieved by using FePd (rect) spring actuator which can deliver the output force of 550gf and stroke
of 35mm, which are the larger force than FePd (thick) and almost same stroke as FePd (thin) spring actuator, indicating the
effect of the rectangular shape of the cross section. The hybrid magnet TYPE A, which is same as Fig.7, is used.

load) is placed on the spring. The spring and weight are inserted into a glass casing and are stabilized vertically. The
performances of this actuator are the force (weight) of 550gf and the stroke of 35mm, which are the larger force than FePd
(thick) and almost the same stroke as FePd (thin) spring actuator, indicating that the rectangular shape of the cross section
really gives rise to increase the performance of the spring actuator.
Figure 14 shows the performance of the FePd(thin) spring actuator fixed to the hybrid magnet TYPE A, which is
investigated by applying a direct current using DC amplifier. The set-up of the spring and hybrid magnet and also the
definition of the measured displacement are shown in Fig.14(a). Displacement of the weight (W) lifted up by the
FePd(shin) coil spring are plotted as a function of the applied direct current in Fig.14(b). Several weight, such as W=0, 22,
50 and 93g, and additionally the weight of 400g for the FePd(thick) spring actuator are examined. The displacement for
each weight keeps almost constant while the current is small, since the first turn of the coil spring closest to the hybrid
magnet has not yet contacted with the yoke. Accordingly the curve of the displacement does not show the linear shape.
However, it seems that the displacement starts to increase almost linearly after the first turn of the coil spring comes into
contact with the yoke. We can say that the non-linear displacement curve in Fig.14(b) comes from the stacking effect of the

40 12
Hybrid W = 0 gf 0.0A
0
Displacement

W = 22 gf 10
Natural length

Magnet 0.5A
Output force [gf]

W = 50 gf
Displacement [mm]

20 W = 93 gf 0
8 1.0A
W = 400gf 0
FePd coil spring

1.5A
(FePd thick) 6
0 0
0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 4
0
-20 2
0
0
Weight -40 -20 0 20 40
-40
(Dead load) Current [A] Displacement [mm]
(a) Definition (b) Displacement of the weight lifted up by (c) Output force vs. displacement curves
of displacement the FePd (thin) spring actuator which a of the FePd (thin) spring actuator for the
direct current applied. applied current.

Fig.14. The performance of the FePd (thin) coil spring actuator examined by using DC amplifier. Output force is defined
by the applied dead load (weight). The hybrid magnet of TYPE A, which is same as Fig.7, is used. The electric resistance
is 20Ω.
coil spring. This effect also causes the non-liner curve of
the output force vs. displacement shown in Fig.14(c). The Driving signal, PC
curves except for the 0A current are non-linear, exhibiting (mA) controller
that the slopes of the curves increase in accordance with Power
increasing of the value of the displacement. This means supply
that the spring constant of the coil spring increases during (100V Power amplifier Position
shrinkage of the coil spring due to the stacking effect of the DC) feedback
coil spring. On the other hand, the curve for the 0A current signal, (mV)
is linear, and the slope of the curve is identical to the spring Driving current
(A)
constant of the FePd(thin) coil spring.
By reason of the above non-linear output, the Position
present spring actuator needs to be controlled by a sensor,
feedback control system for a real application purpose. LVDT
Hybrid Magnet
Figure 15 shows an example of the control circuit system (0-100mm
Driving Unit
for the FePd spring actuator driven by the hybrid magnet. stroke)

5.3 Broadening
The advantage of this spring actuator in which the Fig.15. Control circuit system of the FePd coil spring
driving force comes from the hybrid magnet provides actuator driven by hybrid magnet.
flexibility of designing. Improvements and modifications
to this basic embodiment of the design include the
followings. (1) Further improvement of both force and stroke of the actuator is possible by development of the designing of
the hybrid magnet. (2) Changing the diameter and the pitch of the spring or the dimension of the cross section of the spring
wire, the output force and stroke of the actuator can be determined for given requirements of applications. (3) The
movement of the actuator is sufficiently controllable by using an amplifier with a computer.

6. CONCLUSION

A linear actuator based on a coil spring made by a ferromagnetic material is presented together with the new
concept of the stacking effect of the turns of the coil springs, which is driven either by electromagnets or by the hybrid
magnet which consist of electromagnet and permanent magnets. The each turn of the coil spring attracted to the yoke and
comes into contact with it one by one. Accordingly the entire shrinkage of the coil spring is successfully achieved
accompanied by the large stroke of the spring actuator. The performance of the spring actuator, i.e. the output force and
stroke, is variable by changing a lot of factors, such as the diameter and the pitch of the spring or the dimension of the cross
section of the spring wire, and so on. The FePd coil springs were made from the polycrystalline FePd wires of which
cross-section are circular or rectangular. The FePd spring actuator driven by the hybrid magnet based on the above
principle are designed and manufactured. The performance of these actuators is found to be high enough for a practical use.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was supported by DARPA-ONR contract (N-00014-00-1-0520). Dr.E.Garcia of DARPA and Dr.R.Barsoum of
ONR are the program monitors. Further support was given by a NEDO grant on Smart Materials where Dr.A.Sakamoto
was the program monitor.

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