Linear Motor

1 Introduction
Compared with classical rotary-to-linear devices, (permanent magnet) linear motors are
capable of producing direct thrust force, offering superior accuracy and faster response,
higher thrust force capability, and excellent reliability and long lifetime with almost no
maintenance.
There are two main types of permanent magnet linear motors, namely ironcore linear
motors (ILMs) and coreless linear motors (CLMs). Compared with ILMs, CLMs have
lower thrust force due to the absence of the iron core, but do not suffer cogging force or
eddy currents. As a result, CLMs are more suitable for applications that require smooth
and accurate movements.
The manufacturing tolerances results in parasitic forces and torques in CLMs.

2 First-principle modeling of CLMs

The most two popular analytical methods for CLMs modeling are the surface charge
method and Fourier method.
The closed form expressions of the force and torque in surface charge method are
complicated and thus not favorable to identification and control purposes.
The Fourier modeling method, or harmonic modeling method, is a semi-analytical
(because it contains an infinite number of harmonics) method based on Fourier analysis
and will be employed for the first-principle modeling of CLMs. The main disadvantage
of the Fourier method is the assumption of periodical motor structure. However, it
can also be used in non-ideal CLMs, of which the structure are non-periodical, simply

1
by taking the whole motor length as one Fourier period, at the price of increasing the
number of harmonics and thus increasing the computational cost.
There are three main types of force in CLMs, namely the Lorentz force, the reluc-
tance force and the drag force. Only the force in the x- and z-direction and torque about
the y-axis are considered.
The reluctance force is due to the interaction between the current-carrying coil arrays
and the two back iron plates. It’s zero only when the coil arrays are exactly in the center
of the airgap. It only acts in the z-direction and independent of the x-position of the
translator.
Fzrel = uT Gu (1)

where G ∈ Rnu ×nu is a constant matrix.

The drag force acts in the opposite direction of the translator movement and is
mainly caused by friction. It can modeled using the LuGre model:
 
−(v/v2s )
Ffric = Fc + (Fs − Fc ) e + dv sign (v) (2)

where Fc is the minimum level of Coulomb friction, Fs is the level of static friction, v
is the speed, vs is the lubricant parameter determined by empirical experiment, and d is
the viscous frictional coefficient.

2.1 Maxwell equations

The magnetostatic Maxwell equations are:

~ = J,
∇×H ~ (3)
∇ · ~B = 0, (4)

where H (A/m) is the magnetic field strength, B (T) is the magnetic flux density, and J
(A/mm2 ) is the current density.