WO2016120564A2

WO2016120564A2 - Actuator and positioning device comprising such an actuator

Info

Publication number: WO2016120564A2
Application number: PCT/FR2016/050171
Authority: WO
Inventors: Xavier Marcel Adolphe FERRAUD
Original assignee: Ixblue
Priority date: 2015-01-28
Filing date: 2016-01-27
Publication date: 2016-08-04
Also published as: WO2016120564A3; FR3032060B1; FR3032060A1

Abstract

The invention relates to an actuator which comprises two portions (10, 0) pivotably mounted relative to one another about a pivot axis, including a rotor and a stator, as well as a means for controlling the orientation of the rotor relative to the stator. The invention also relates to a positioning device comprising an actuator as mentioned above. According to the invention, one of said portions comprises a plurality of permanent magnets (60) distributed along a first arc of a circle centred on the pivot axis, and the other one of said portions comprises a plurality of windings (20) distributed along a second arc of a circle centred on the pivot axis, the radius of said second arc of a circle being substantially equal to the radius of said first arc of a circle so that the windings extend level with said permanent magnets.

Description

ACTUATOR AND POSITIONER COMPRISING SUCH ACTUATOR

TECHNICAL FIELD TO WHICH THE INVENTION RELATES The present invention relates generally to electromechanical actuators.

It relates more particularly to an actuator comprising two parts pivotally mounted relative to one another about a pivot axis (namely a rotor and a stator), and a means for controlling the orientation of the rotor relative to to the stator about said pivot axis.

It also relates to a positioner comprising an actuator as mentioned above, coupled to at least one motion sensor (this motion sensor being adapted to the use to be made of the positioner and to the environment in which the positioner is located ).

BACKGROUND

There are multiple areas in which it is desired to have an actuator of the aforementioned type, for rotating a load relative to a support.

Thus, in the field of antennas, it is known to use a system of two annular rails engaged one inside the other so as to be pivotable relative to one another, one of the two annular rails being fixed to the antenna (the load) and the other of the annular rails being fixed to the support. Thus, in this particular example, the antenna can rotate to aim at a particular point, for example a satellite.

To rotate the two rails relative to each other, an actuator is generally used which is in indirect engagement with the antenna, i.e., which is connected to the rail attached to the antenna by a transmission system such as a gear mechanism.

The advantage of this transmission system is that it provides great flexibility in the design of the antenna and its support, since it allows the designer to place the actuator in any position relative to the antenna .

The disadvantage of this transmission system is that it necessarily has play, which reduces the accuracy of the movement imposed on the antenna. This transmission system also has the effect of reducing the torque available to rotate the antenna. Finally, the transmission system produces heat in large quantities, heat that must then be evacuated.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

In order to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the state of the art, the present invention proposes an actuator capable of being in direct contact with the load without generating a large bulk.

More particularly, the invention proposes an actuator as defined in the introduction, in which:

one of the parts (the rotor or the stator) comprises a plurality of permanent magnets which are arranged in a first mean plane orthogonal to said pivot axis and which are distributed according to at least a first arc of a circle centered on the pivot axis, each permanent magnet having a magnetization direction opposite to that of each immediately adjacent permanent magnet, and

the other of the parts comprises a plurality of windings supplied with current by said control means, which are situated in a second mean plane which is parallel to said first mean plane and which are distributed in at least one second arc-of-circle centered on the axis of pivot and of radius substantially equal to the radius of said first arc-circle, so that the windings extend to height of said permanent magnets.

Thus, thanks to the invention, the actuator can be particularly flat and compact, so that it can be interposed directly between the load and the support, without substantially increasing the bulk of the together.

Since this set requires fewer components, its design is facilitated.

Since the actuator can also be placed in direct contact with the load, there is no longer a loss of power and precision. The heating and vibrations engendered by the transmission system are also eliminated.

Other advantageous and non-limiting features of the actuator according to the invention are the following:

permanent magnets are distributed over a complete circle;

the first and second arcs-of-circles have identical rays;

each winding extends longitudinally about a radial axis with respect to said pivot axis;

the permanent magnets are fixed to the rotor or the stator;

the permanent magnets are preferably fixed to the rotor;

the permanent magnets are all identical and are regularly distributed around the pivot axis; and

- The rotor and the stator each comprise a substantially flat base having two opposite faces, a first face carries the permanent magnets or windings, and a second face comprises means for attachment to a load or a support.

The invention also relates to a turret comprising a load and an actuator as mentioned above, the second face of the rotor is fixed to said load.

The invention also relates to a positioner comprising an actuator as mentioned above, and a position sensor adapted to measure the angular position of the rotor relative to the stator around the pivot axis.

Advantageously, there is provided a motion sensor fixed to the rotor or the stator.

Advantageously, there is provided an attitude sensor attached to the stator or the rotor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, given by way of non-limiting examples, will make it clear what the invention consists of and how it can be implemented.

In the accompanying drawings:

- Figure 1 is a schematic top view of a positioner comprising an actuator according to the invention;

- Figure 2 is a sectional view along the plane A-A of Figure 1;

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of zone III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic bottom view of a portion of the rotor of the positioner of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic view from above of a stator equipping an embodiment variant of the positioner of FIG. 1.

An electromechanical actuator is an element that, when it receives a control electric current, makes it possible to move a load.

In FIG. 1, a positioner 1 is shown. Such a positioner comprises an actuator 2 and a sensor which makes it possible to measure the displacement of the load.

Here, the actuator 2 comprises a rotor 50 and a stator 10 which are pivotally mounted relative to each other about a pivot axis A1, and a control means 100 of the orientation of the rotor 50 by relative to the stator 10 about said pivot axis A1.

This actuator 2 is here designed to be fixed on a support and to be in direct contact with the load, so that it is interposed between the support and the load.

To illustrate a particular application of the invention, we can consider the case of a turret mounted on a support, which comprises an actuator and a load such as for example a camera or an antenna. This turret can be embarked on a vehicle (land, sea or air), or simply be placed on a substantially fixed base (for example a pylon or a building).

The role of the actuator 2 may then be to compensate for the movements of the support (vehicle or base) so that the line of sight of the load (camera or antenna or other) remains fixed with respect to a local landmark.

As shown in Figure 2, to interpose between the support and the load without being bulky, this actuator 2 is particularly flat. It has a general shape of disc or ring centered on the pivot axis A1.

Its stator 10 and its rotor 50 each comprise for this purpose a base 1 1, 51 disk-shaped or ring. These bases 1 1, 51 are stacked one on the other and are mounted movable relative to each other by mounting means 40 which will be described below.

The base 1 1 of the stator 10 is here provided to be fixed on the support while the base 51 of the rotor 50 is provided to accommodate the load (antenna or camera or other).

In the description, the terms "lower" and "upper" will be used with respect to this support, the lower part of an element of the actuator 2 designating the part of this element which is situated on the side of the support and the upper part. designating the part of this element which is located on the opposite side (that is to say towards the load).

The actuator 2 comprises means for forcing the rotor 50 to pivot by relative to the stator 10 about the pivot axis A1. These are the means that are more particularly the object of the present invention.

Thus, according to a particularly advantageous characteristic of the invention:

- The base 51 of the rotor 50 carries a plurality of permanent magnets 60 which are arranged in a first mean plane P1 orthogonal to said pivot axis A1 (see Figure 3) and which are distributed on a first circle centered on the pivot axis A1, each permanent magnet 60 having a magnetization direction opposite to that of the two adjacent permanent magnets 60, and

- the base 1 1 of the stator 10 comprises a plurality of windings 20 which are adapted to be supplied with current by the control means 100, which are located in a second average plane P2 which is parallel and distinct from said first mean plane P1 ( see FIG. 3) and which are distributed along a second circle (or arc-of-circle) centered on the axis of pivot A1, the radius of said second circle (or arc-of-circle) being substantially equal to the radius of said first circle such that the windings 20 extend at a height of said permanent magnets 60.

The first circle is here defined as the circle passing through the geometric center of each permanent magnet 60. It is therefore included in the first average plane P1.

The second circle is here defined as the circle passing through the geometric center of each winding 20. It is therefore included in the second average plane P2.

These first and second circles have substantially identical radii such that the windings are located below (or above) the permanent magnet band 60.

Preferably, these first and second circles have identical rays.

In the embodiment shown in the figures, the base 51 of the rotor 50 is therefore formed of an annular or circular plate, the upper face of which is designed to receive the charge and whose lower face carries magnets on its periphery. permanent 60.

In order not to form obstacles to the electromagnetic field lines generated by the permanent magnets 60, this base 51 is made of a material having a low magnetic permeability, for example in a ferromagnetic material. It is made of steel here.

Here, the base 51 is made of several parts assembled so that it has a disk shape of diameter approximately equal to 1 meter.

Preferably, each permanent magnet 60 extends over an angular sector around the pivot axis A1 which is less than 10 degrees.

In the present case, it is here provided more than a hundred permanent magnets 60 distributed over a complete circle, which therefore each extend over an angular sector S1 less than 4 degrees (see Figure 4).

The permanent magnets 60 are here all identical and are regularly distributed around the pivot axis A1, which bankrupt the manufacture of the rotor 50.

Each permanent magnet 60 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape of length here between 1 and 5 centimeters, width here between 0.5 and 3 centimeters, and thickness here less than one centimeter.

Each permanent magnet 60 is bonded to the base 51 so that it extends in length along a radial axis relative to the pivot axis A1.

Permanent magnets 60 are placed side-by-side, with a gap between each pair of adjacent magnets that is less than one millimeter.

The permanent magnets 60 are distributed on the base 51 so that two adjacent permanent magnets 60 always have inverse polarities: these permanent magnets 60 are thus arranged so that when the north pole of one of them is turned towards the stator 10, the south poles of the two neighboring magnets are turned towards this stator 10 (as clearly show the abbreviations N and S in Figure 4).

It can then be considered that the permanent magnets 60 together form a circular track in which the lower faces of the magnets have an alternation of north and south poles.

In the embodiment shown in the figures, the base 1 1 of the stator 10 is formed of an annular steel plate, the underside of which is designed to be fixed to the support and whose upper face carries the windings 20.

Here, the base 1 1 has a diameter greater than one meter, so that, seen from above, it overflows the rotor 50.

This base 1 1 carries at least two winding 20 (or "coils"). Depending on the nominal power that it is desired for the actuator 2 to develop, may provide more windings 20.

In the embodiment described here, where the power supply is three-phase, the number of windings 20 will remain a multiple of three: it will be provided N triplet (s) of windings 20.

Alternatively, if the power supply was two-phase, the number of windings 20 would be a multiple of two.

Each winding 20 is conventionally formed of an electrically conductive wire, wound in a spiral along a winding axis A2.

Here, the windings 20 are placed so that their winding axes A2 are radial.

As has been explained above, there is further provided means 40 for mounting the rotor 50 on the stator 10 and means for controlling the angular position of the rotor 50 with respect to the stator 10.

As shown in Figure 3, the mounting means here comprise a bearing which is in the form of a ring 40 which is interposed between the rotor 50 and the stator 10.

More specifically, the base 1 1 of the stator 10, which has an annular shape, defines an inner opening 12. The base 51 of the rotor 50 has meanwhile a rib 52 projecting on its underside, annular. Once the rotor 50 is placed above the stator 10, this rib 52 is provided to engage inside the inner opening 12 of the stator 10. The outer face of this rib 52 has an equal diameter for this purpose. , at the mounting clearance, to the diameter of the inner opening 12 of the stator 10.

The ring 40 is then interposed between the rib 52 and the edge of the inner opening 12 of the stator 10. It is more precisely housed, on one side, in a groove which extends hollow in the edge of the internal opening 12 of the base 1 1 of the stator 10, and, on the other, in a rib provided in recess in the outer face of the rib 52 of the base 51 of the rotor 50.

The ring 40 is here formed by a ball bearing.

The ring 40 extends at least partly at the height of the windings 20 and / or the permanent magnet 60. Otherwise formulated, there is at least one plane orthogonal to the pivot axis A1 which passes not only through the ring 40 but also by the windings 20 or the permanent magnet 60. In this way, the ring 40 does not increase the size of the actuator along the pivot axis A1.

The control means, which are not shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, are in turn designed to supply current to the windings 20 in such a way that the latter generate a magnetic field that makes it possible to rotate the rotor 50 with respect to the stator 10 of a desired angle to effect the desired motion.

Here, the actuator 2 being coupled to a position sensor to form a positioner 1, the control means is adapted to rotate the rotor 50 relative to the stator 10 by a desired angle.

The synchronous control means are then designed to supply current to the windings 20 of each triplet by three alternating currents out of phase by 120 ° (referred to as "phase current") in order to create magnetic poles north and south which are moving forward and which therefore cause permanent magnets 20 on one side or the other.

Alternatively, it could be provided that the control means operate differently (for example with a DC current or two-phase current).

As shown in FIG. 3, the position sensor 1 10 provided on the positioner 1 is here placed on the edge of the base 51 of the rotor 50 of the actuator 2.

It is preferentially an encoder 1 10 adapted to measure the angular position of the rotor 50 relative to the stator 10 around the pivot axis A1.

In a first embodiment of the positioner 1, it can be provided that the positioner 1 is only equipped with this encoder and therefore does not include other measuring means.

Then, the positioner 1 will preferably be used on a static support. For example, it can equip a turret mounted on a roof of a building. Indeed, insofar as the support (the roof) will be perfectly static, the positioner will move the turret a very precise angle so that the load is oriented in a specific direction.

In a second embodiment of the positioner 1, it can be provided that the latter is equipped with another measuring means. Thus, the positioner 1 may be equipped with a motion sensor 120, separate from the encoder 1 10. Such a motion sensor 120 will be designed to measure the movements of the actuator relative to the support of this actuator. This motion sensor 120 will then preferentially be fixed on the rotor 50. It may be a gyroscopic trihedron, that is to say a sensor comprising three gyroscopes oriented along three orthogonal axes with respect to one another. .

Then, the positioner 1 can be used on a quasi-static support, for example on a pylon subjected to the action of the wind. Indeed, the measurements made by the encoder 1 10 combined with those made by the gyroscopic trihedron 120 will allow the control means to move the turret a very precise angle, whatever the action of the wind on the pylon, such so that the load remains oriented in a specific direction.

In a third embodiment of the positioner 1, it can be provided that the latter is further equipped with a third measuring means. Thus, the positioner 1 may be equipped with an attitude sensor 130, separate from the encoder 1 10 and the motion sensor 120. Such an attitude sensor 130 will be designed to measure the three-dimensional orientation of the actuator in a landmark.

This attitude sensor 130 will then preferably be mounted on the stator 10. It may be an AHRS sensor (abbreviation of "Attitude Heading Reference System" or attitude and heading system), associated or not with a GPS chip. Such an AHRS sensor makes it possible to calculate the three-dimensional orientation of the stator 10, using for this purpose gyroscopes and reference sensors (magnetometers and accelerometers). To improve its performance under long-term acceleration conditions and / or in situations subject to significant magnetic disturbances, the GPS chip can determine position, velocity, and acceleration information that is used to make it more reliable. the data calculated by the AHRS sensor.

Then, the positioner 1 can be used on a dynamic support, for example on a vehicle. Indeed, the measurements made by the encoder 1 10 combined with those made by the gyroscopic trihedron 120 and the attitude sensor 130 will allow the control means to move the turret a very precise angle, regardless of the movements of the vehicle, so that the load remains oriented in a specific direction.

The present invention is in no way limited to the variant embodiments described and represented.

Thus, in FIG. 5, another embodiment of the stator 10 is shown.

In this embodiment, the rotor and the base 1 1 of the stator 10 are identical to the rotor and the base of the stator shown in FIGS. 1 to 4.

The windings are however different from those shown in FIG.

Thus, these windings are formed by stators of linear motors

20 '.

Here, for example, four stators of linear motors 20 'are used which are fixed on the base 1 1 of the stator 10 and which make it possible to rotate the rotor 50. These stators of linear motors 20' are regularly distributed around the axis Pivot A1 and are oriented orthoradially with respect to this pivot axis A1 (such that the windings they house are located substantially radially relative to the pivot axis A1).

In this embodiment, the design of the control means 100 of the pivoting of the rotor 50 is then simplified since it only consists in combining the control means of the four linear motor stators 20 '.

According to another embodiment of the invention not shown in the figures, it could be provided to place the permanent magnets on the upper face of the stator and the windings on the underside of the rotor.

Still alternatively, one could provide to distribute the permanent magnets not on a complete circle but only on an arc-circle. In this variant, the actuator would then be designed to pivot about the pivot axis with a limited travel (it could not operate a complete revolution around the pivot axis). The major advantage of this solution would be to reduce the cost of the actuator, the size, heating and mass.

According to another variant, the windings could be placed differently. Thus, it would be possible to place them orthoradially with respect to the pivot axis.

Claims

1. Actuator (2) having two parts (10, 50) pivotally mounted relative to one another about a pivot axis (A1), including a rotor (50) and a stator (10), and means controlling (100) the orientation of the rotor (50) relative to the stator (10) about said pivot axis (A1),

characterized in that

one of the parts (50) comprises a plurality of permanent magnets (60) which are arranged in a first middle plane (P1) orthogonal to said pivot axis (A1) and which are distributed in at least a first arc-de a circle centered on the pivot axis (A1), each permanent magnet (60) having a direction of magnetization opposite to that of each permanent magnet (60) immediately adjacent, and in that

the other of the parts (10) comprises a plurality of windings (20) which are adapted to be supplied with current by said control means (100), which are located in a second middle plane (P2) which is parallel to said first middle plane (P1) and which are distributed according to at least one second arc-circle centered on the pivot axis (A1), the radius of said second arc-circle being substantially equal to the radius of said first arc-de-cercle; -circle so that the windings (20) extend at height of said permanent magnets (60).

2. Actuator (2) according to the preceding claim, wherein the permanent magnets (60) are distributed over a complete circle.

3. Actuator (2) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the first and second arcs-of-circles have identical radii.

4. Actuator (2) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein each winding (20) has a winding axis (A2) which is radial with respect to said pivot axis (A1).

5. Actuator (2) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the permanent magnets (60) are fixed to the rotor (50) or the stator (10).

6. Actuator (2) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the permanent magnets (60) are all identical and are evenly distributed around the pivot axis (A1).

7. Actuator (2) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the rotor (50) and the stator (10) each comprise a base (1 1, 51). substantially flat having two opposite faces, a first face carries the permanent magnets (60) or the windings (20), and a second face comprises means for attachment to a load or a support.

8. Turret comprising a load and an actuator (2) according to the preceding claim, wherein the second face of the rotor (50) is fixed to said load.

9. Positioner (1) comprising an actuator (2) according to one of claims 1 to 7, and a position sensor (1 10) adapted to measure the angular position of the rotor (50) relative to the stator (10) around of the pivot axis (A1).

10. Positioner (1) according to the preceding claim, wherein there is provided a motion sensor (120) attached to the rotor (50) or the stator (10).

1 1. Positioner (1) according to one of the two preceding claims, wherein there is provided an attitude sensor (130) attached to the stator (10) or the rotor (50).