Permanent Magnet Spherical Motors: Model and Field Based Approaches for Design, Sensing and Control

This book introduces and illustrates modeling, sensing, and control methods for analyzing, designing, and developing spherical motors. It systematically presents models for establishing the relationships among the magnetic fields, position/orientation and force/torque, while also providing time-efficient solutions to assist researchers and engineers in studying and developing these motors. In order to take full advantage of spherical motors’ compact structure in practical applications, sensing and control methods that utilize their magnetic fields and eliminate the need to install external sensors for feedback are proposed. Further, the book investigates for the first time spherical motors’ force/torque manipulation capability, and proposes algorithms enabling the ball-joint-like end-effector for haptic use based on these motors’ hybrid position/force actuation modes. While systematically presenting approaches to their design, sensing and control, the book also provides many examples illustrating the implementation issues readers may encounter.  

Kun Bai:

Professor Kun Bai received his B.S. degree from Zhejiang University, China in 2006 and earned his M. S. and Ph. D. degrees from the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, US in 2009 and 2012 respectively. Currently, he is an Associate Professor with the State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology and the School of Mechanical Science and Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China.

Prof. Bai's research areas include smart electromagnetic actuators/sensors and novel applications, in which he has published over 20 peer-viewed papers and held over 10 international and domestic patents. He has extensive expertise and experience in developing direct drive electromagnetic actuators. He has been PI for several funded projects regarding manufacturing and robotics where spherical motors has been developed for applications such as conformal printing, haptic device, desktop machining-stage.

Kok-Meng Lee:

Professor Kok-Meng Lee earned his B.S. degree from the University of Buffalo, the State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA, in 1980, and M. S. and Ph. D. degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, in 1982 and 1985, respectively. He is currently Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA. He is also Distinguished Professor with the State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, under Thousand Talents Plan.

Prof. Lee’s research interests include system dynamics/control, robotics, automation, and mechatronics. He is a world renowned researcher with more than 30 years of research experience in magnetic field modeling and design, optimization and implementation of electromagnetic actuators. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers and he holds eight patents in machinevision, three degrees of freedom (DOF) spherical motor/encoder, and live-bird handling system. He is IEEE/ASME Fellow and was the Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics from 2008 to 2013. Recognitions of his research contributions include the National Science Foundation (NSF) Presidential Young Investigator, Sigma Xi Junior Faculty Research, International Hall of Fame New Technology, and Kayamori Best Paper awards.