Principal Investigator David Trumper
In some industrial operations, it may be advantageous to handle the material without directly touching it, such as plastic film production, coating and painting. This project explores the magnetic and electrostatic suspensions of flexible structures such as fibers, beams, webs, and plates. The research involves design of noncontact sensors and actuators, and study of suspension and vibration control.
This project arose from a consultation involving a metal broom handle manufacturing plant. The handle makers calculated that they could save a significant amount of money if they made the process continuous. Beginning with a flat piece of steel which is rolled and seam welded into a tube, the soon-to-be broom handle is moved through the painting, heating and curing stations at about 1 meter per second. While this happens, the tube cannot be touched by rollers without marring the surface finish, so it is magnetically levitated with ten magnetic suspension stations for the 35 meters it takes for the paint to be applied and to harden.
The current project is a slight tangent from the original, with a more broad focus not only on beams but fibers, plates and webs as well. The problem is now three-fold: design and construction of a new position sensor; design and construction of a new actuator, and implementation of a control scheme for the system. To test the system we built an eight station, 1/10 scale model using the designed sensors and actuators to control the position of the tube.