Magnetic-based driving applications are receiving increasing attention. This study proposed a novel reciprocating permanent magnetic actuator (PMA) to manipulate magnetic micro robots to impact and clear blockages inside fluid pipes in a linear path. The PMA consisted of a cylindrical permanent magnet and a crank slider structure. A straight pipe with a circular cross-sectional area was located in front of the actuator to study the driving performance of PMA. A micro permanent magnet with a cylinder shape was employed as a working robot for manipulation inside the pipe. Firstly, analytical formulas were derived to obtain the magnetic driving force acting on the micro robot and determine the most suitable magnet configuration. The finite element simulation verified the analytical calculation. The developed reciprocating PMA prototype was then introduced, and the PMA and micro robot’s motion performance was analysed. Lastly, preliminary experiments were carried out for evaluating the micro robot’s motion characteristics. Performance tests for different excitation frequencies, flow rates, viscosities, and axial distances, indicating that PMA could manipulate the magnetic micro robot inside the pipe. The results confirmed that the developed PMA could effectively drive the micro robot with the advantage of consecutive magnetic driving. Especially, the micro robot featured good flexibility, rapid response, and a simple structure, suggesting that this micro robot may play an important role in industrial and medical applications, such as blockage elimination and thrombus clearance.
Mg/Al dissimilar joints with favourable static and dynamic mechanical properties were obtained utilising ultrasonic spot welding and ultrasonic spot weld bonding technology. The fatigue behaviour, fatigue failure mode, and typical fatigue fracture surface morphology of Mg/Al ultrasonic spot welding and ultrasonic spot weld bonding joints were compared and observed to get a better understanding of the fatigue failure mechanism. In general, the Mg/Al ultrasonic spot weld bonding joint exhibited better fatigue performance than the ultrasonic spot welding joint. The two kinds of joints presented different fatigue failure modes with decreasing applied load level. A fatigue life prediction model was established, and the fatigue life prediction results were in good agreement with the experimental fatigue results.
Magnetic micro-robots are used widely in a narrow space, such as internal inspections and desilting of slender pipelines, minimal-or non-invasive diagnoses, and treatments of various human diseases in blood vessels, and micro-manipulations, micro-sensing fields. Magnetic micro-robots are usually driven by several electromagnetic coils. It is essential to understand the magnetic field and magnetic forces acting on micro-robots to drive the magnetic micro-robots more effectively. In this paper, the finite element method is applied to simulate the magnetic field generated by a coil assembly. Moreover, a three-dimensional magnetic force simulation is also performed to reveal the magnetic forces acting on a cylindrical magnetic micro-robot. Experimental measurements validate the simulated results. A Hall sensor is used to measure the magnetic field along the coil assembly's axial and radial direction. The micro-robot is glued to a connecting rod, fixing a force sensor to measure the magnetic forces acting on it. The measured results are in good accordance with the simulated ones, which prove the validity of the simulation. The results from this study show potential to provide a reference to magnetic micro-robot applications.
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