The need for cost-effective linear motion is large in all sectors of industry and the linear actuator is one of the responses to this need.
The purpose of this thesis was to search for alternative linear technologies to replace a pneumatic cylinder. The cylinder had certain attributes which the new technology had to reproduce. In order to attain all of these attributes a list of specifications for the linear actuator was set up. When available techniques to replace pneumatics were investigated these specifications were used to seek out the most appropriate solution.
To reach the goal set out for the project it was necessary to develop a working methodology where the three phases of the project; conception, design and manufacture were included. For the conception phase several concepts were developed and ranked in order to find the most feasible solution to the problem at hand. For the design phase, factors such as simplicity, technology availability, and costs were considered. The manufacturing phase regarded the acquisition of parts and the use of technical resources to assembly the prototypes. The outcome of the project was two working prototypes which mimicked the attributes of a pneumatic cylinder.
After the stages set out were completed it was necessary to verify and validate the prototype with testing and collecting of the resulting data. The outcome of the tests was that the prototypes did not work according to specification. The inability to meet the set out demands stemmed from the lack of power provided to the motor from the positioning controller device. This problem in turn stemmed from the large amount of power consumed by the motor during operation. The results from this report show that there are great opportunities in the field of linear motion. Howeve...
