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A novel levitating hybrid linear actuator is proposed for magnetically levitated carrier systems. This hybrid linear actuator, "MaglevMotor", is capable to levitate itself under the passive rail and thrusts itself in a single longitudinal direction. The proposed structure aims to reduce complexity by minimising the necessary number of components, resulting in simplified geometry, improved assembly convenience, and decreased manufacturing tolerances. The MaglevMotor is optimised in multi‐physics aspect. Optimisation objectives are maximising thrust force, minimising total mass and minimising mechanical deformation of yoke with constraints of a user defined magnetic flux density (B) in yoke and zero power condition for specific air gap value. The authors present pre‐optimisation studies, optimisation results and final MaglevMotor designs step by step. By utilising three of the MaglevMotors units, the carrier is able to achieve motion in six degrees of freedom. The carrier's performance targets, including a 0.2 G acceleration, a total mass of less than 10 kg, and a 5 mm levitation air gap, have been both attained and validated through corresponding experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the electromagnetic and mechanical analysis of an axial flux permanent magnet (AFPM) motor for high speed (12000 rpm) rotor which is vertically suspended by magnetic bearings. In the analysis, a prototype AFPM motor with a double-sided rotor and a coreless stator between the rotors are considered. Firstly, electromagnetic analysis of the motor is carried out by using magnetic equivalent circuit method. Then, the rotor disk thickness is determined based on a rotor axial displacement due to the attractive force between the permanent magnets placed on opposite rotor disks. Hereafter, an analytical solution is carried out to determine the natural frequencies of the rotor-shaft system. Finally, 3D finite element analysis (FEA) is carried out to verify the analytical results and some experimental results are given to verify the analytical and numerical results and prove the stable high-speed operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]