Coil actuators are electromagnetic devices that move objects quickly and stop on demand. They come in various types and sizes and are used in consumer electronics, manufacturing assembly lines, medical equipment, and computer hard drives. Moving coil and rotary spool/wishbone actuators are the simplest types. They are also used in speakers and medical equipment to place objects in precise locations. In computer hard drives, they scan the surface of the platters to locate data. They are also used in assembly lines to process products and apply precise force to objects.
A spool actuator is an electromagnetic device that moves objects at high speed and stops on demand. Coil actuators come in various types and sizes for different automated tasks; they can be heard vibrating at high speed, producing sound waves in speakers and acting like the tiny electric motors that move the disk heads in a computer hard drive. Coil actuators are used in a wide variety of tasks in consumer electronics, manufacturing assembly lines, and medical equipment to quickly place moving objects into precise locations on programmed demand.
The simplest type of coil actuator is called a moving coil actuator, a linear actuator that moves objects back and forth in straight lines. A moving coil actuator has opposing magnets in exactly opposite north-south polarity with a magnetic field between them. Alternating current along a coiled metal wire between the magnets produces a force that can move objects back and forth through the magnetic field, according to polarity shifts, as the magnets alternately attract and repel each other. Rotary spool or wishbone actuators have the same general operating principle, but are arranged in positions that make them swing in an arc rather than in a straight line.
Behind the speaker grilles are cones that vibrate, generating sound waves. These cones are called diaphragms and have coil actuators behind them which vibrate at frequencies received by stereo amplifiers. Some loudspeakers have different sizes of speakers with proportional sizes of actuators to handle different frequencies. Small actuators vibrate at higher rates, producing higher frequencies than the general average range vibrations; alternatively, bass drivers have large actuators that vibrate at low speeds, producing lower frequencies.
The actuators in computer disk drives are constantly in motion, scanning the surface of the hard disk platters. They travel from the center of the platters to the outer edges and back, which explains the randomness of data locations when data is stored on disks. When the actuators need to search for the data stored there, they move back and forth to locate the exact locations of the data requested by users.
Other uses for coil actuators include placing medical equipment in exact positions on patients’ bodies during medical testing. Coil actuators are also found throughout assembly lines, placing products for automated processing or processing by assembly line workers. These industrial coil actuators can also apply a precise force to objects to aid assembly.
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