Modeling and characterization of a voice coil motor

This thesis describes the development of a voice-coil motor that will allow viscous fluids to be delivered via a portable needle-free injection device. The chosen motor design features opposing magnets whose flux is channeled across the air gap by a center radial magnet, thus creating a higher flux density in the gap compared to a one-magnet design. An analytical model is developed which gives the force of the motor based on the material properties and geometry. An optimized geometry is modeled using finite element analysis, which predicts a motor constant of 11.02 N/[the square root of]W. The motor is fabricated and characterization reveals it to have a motor constant of 8.43 N/[the square root of]W. Althought the motor constant is less than expected, it is a large improvement over the current motor used in needle-free injection, which has a motor constant of 3.21 N/[the square root of]W.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Brown, Ashley (Ashley A.)

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/1721.1/74429

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/74429