Engineering Commons^™

An Adjustable Stiffness Torsional Magnetic Spring With A Linear Stroke Length, Dawei Che, Jonathan Z. Bird, Alex Hagmüller, Md Emrad Hossain

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents the analysis, mechanical design, and proof-of-principle experimental testing of a new type of adjustable stiffness torsional magnetic spring for an ocean generator application. Unlike prior published designs the rotary magnetic spring is shown to have a highly linear adjustable stroke length. The presented torsional spring is experimentally shown to be able to create a ± 45° angular stroke range with a peak torque of ± 39.1 N·m. The stiffness is adjusted by using a stepper motor to axially adjust the axial magnet offset. The stepper motor contains a brake so that power is not expended when maintaining …