Lorentz force actuator and carbon fiber co-winding design, construction and characterization

Carbon fiber composites are materials that present many benefits to engineering applications, ranging from aerospace to medicine. This thesis provides background on carbon fiber properties and manufacturing techniques, and outlines the methodology for manufacturing a co-wound carbon fiber and copper coil for use in linear Lorentz force actuators. A conventionally-wound, plastic-bobbin actuator coil and the new, co-wound coil were then tested to compare their electrical, thermal, and mechanical performance. In a needle-free injection application, the cowound coil demonstrated improved performance over the conventional coil configuration. The carbon fiber coil is lighter by 3.75 ± 0.155 grams, increases the transient heat transfer by 15.7 %, is 2.18 ± 0.13 times stiffer, and can survive a higher compressive force than the conventional plastic bobbin.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Chen, Yi, S. B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ian W. Hunter.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45772

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/45772