Modeling of Laterally Sliding Motion of a Magnetic Clamp

Abstract

A sliding magnetic clamp is used to hold a thin aluminum panel during a milling operation. The design includes a permanent magnet group follower (slave module) which slides laterally over the panel attracted by another permanent magnet group (master module) attached to the industrial robot end effector from the machined side of the panel. The lateral sliding motion of the slave module in response to the master module motion is studied using a transfer function based motion model established considering the lateral magnetic stiffness. The model is validated experimentally.