Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
cjk2, Thu Feb 26 2009, 11:25PMI thought id share my latest work in the area of levitation. What i have done in the past is attractive levitation. Attractive is easy because gravity helps to keep things stable. Repulsive, however is much harder.
I use 4 hall effect sensors in this setup to deduce X, Y, and Z. My levitator is powered by a mega168 running at 14mhz.
Stability is still a bit of a problem in this design but I believe i might be able to improve it by lowering my hall effect array a bit.
Everything runs on 12v, at 5a or so max. I also have a real time computer interface set up so i can see what the levitator is doing while it it running.
See it working on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8fnVdNQkyo
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
Arcstarter, Thu Feb 26 2009, 11:41PM
Very beautiful! :O
Arcstarter, Thu Feb 26 2009, 11:41PM
Very beautiful! :O
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
rp181, Fri Feb 27 2009, 12:05AM
Best levitation device I have seen. Looks good, And i agree, It will be much better without the aluminum. I think it would look better if the coils where on top of the controller, Hidden cable's and all. It would be a cool desktop toy.
Do the coils get Hot?
rp181, Fri Feb 27 2009, 12:05AM
Best levitation device I have seen. Looks good, And i agree, It will be much better without the aluminum. I think it would look better if the coils where on top of the controller, Hidden cable's and all. It would be a cool desktop toy.
Do the coils get Hot?
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
..., Fri Feb 27 2009, 12:41AM
That is amazing
The construction is immaculate! And it even works 
Any thought of making one that works with eddy currents so you don't need a magnet to make it work? Although from what I understand even levating a small object would take a fairly large amount of circulating power that wouldn't lend itself to desk toy form factors very well.
..., Fri Feb 27 2009, 12:41AM
That is amazing
The construction is immaculate! And it even works Any thought of making one that works with eddy currents so you don't need a magnet to make it work? Although from what I understand even levating a small object would take a fairly large amount of circulating power that wouldn't lend itself to desk toy form factors very well.
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
cjk2, Fri Feb 27 2009, 02:11AM
Nothing gets more than slightly warm even during continuous operation. I was worried a bit about heating because I am using locked anti-phase drive, but the coils seem to have plenty of inductance to prevent any issues.
I agree that it would take a lot of power to make a design like that work. It seems to be much easier to just levitate magnets.
cjk2, Fri Feb 27 2009, 02:11AM
Do the coils get Hot?
Nothing gets more than slightly warm even during continuous operation. I was worried a bit about heating because I am using locked anti-phase drive, but the coils seem to have plenty of inductance to prevent any issues.
Any thought of making one that works with eddy currents so you don't need a magnet to make it work? Although from what I understand even levating a small object would take a fairly large amount of circulating power that wouldn't lend itself to desk toy form factors very well.
I agree that it would take a lot of power to make a design like that work. It seems to be much easier to just levitate magnets.
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
Proud Mary, Fri Feb 27 2009, 02:32AM
Splendid workmanship! Well done!
Proud Mary, Fri Feb 27 2009, 02:32AM
Splendid workmanship! Well done!
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
neuralinhibitor, Fri Mar 13 2009, 06:27AM
Wow, this is genuinely impressive. A while ago I tried to get my (attractive) levitator running using a PIC18F452 @ 4MHz but it became unstable rather quickly.
I'm curious, are you using a phase angle compensation circuit or are you generating the response to the hall effect sensors purely in software (which would be even more impressive)?
Either way, great job. I may have to give mine another go.
neuralinhibitor, Fri Mar 13 2009, 06:27AM
Wow, this is genuinely impressive. A while ago I tried to get my (attractive) levitator running using a PIC18F452 @ 4MHz but it became unstable rather quickly.
I'm curious, are you using a phase angle compensation circuit or are you generating the response to the hall effect sensors purely in software (which would be even more impressive)?
Either way, great job. I may have to give mine another go.
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
cjk2, Fri Mar 13 2009, 06:12PM
I have tried lead compensation, but my levitator actually gets less stable if i use it. I am currently using an aluminum disk under the object to dampen any vibrations. It is actually almost stable without the damper but the object has a tendency to fall after 20 seconds or so.
All of the mixing and mapping is done in software on my micro.
Here is my latest video of the device working.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DprA3_yhug
cjk2, Fri Mar 13 2009, 06:12PM
I have tried lead compensation, but my levitator actually gets less stable if i use it. I am currently using an aluminum disk under the object to dampen any vibrations. It is actually almost stable without the damper but the object has a tendency to fall after 20 seconds or so.
All of the mixing and mapping is done in software on my micro.
Here is my latest video of the device working.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DprA3_yhug
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
Tom540, Fri Mar 13 2009, 07:59PM
That is awesome. You should develop it into a controller. Put like a plastic shaft onto the object.
Tom540, Fri Mar 13 2009, 07:59PM
That is awesome. You should develop it into a controller. Put like a plastic shaft onto the object.
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
Zorink, Sat Mar 14 2009, 06:28AM
awesome
I can't wait to see the finished product
Zorink, Sat Mar 14 2009, 06:28AM
awesome
I can't wait to see the finished product
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
Doubl3 Helix, Sat Mar 14 2009, 04:41PM
Wow! That is absolutely fantastic!
Looking forward to future developments and videos!
Doubl3 Helix, Sat Mar 14 2009, 04:41PM
Wow! That is absolutely fantastic!
Looking forward to future developments and videos!
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
Conundrum, Thu May 14 2009, 07:15AM
have you considered slowing down the clock? it could be that you are experiencing an instability issue similar to positive feedback, the fix might be as simple as adding a delay in series with the coil drives..
-A
Conundrum, Thu May 14 2009, 07:15AM
have you considered slowing down the clock? it could be that you are experiencing an instability issue similar to positive feedback, the fix might be as simple as adding a delay in series with the coil drives..
-A
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
Turkey9, Sat May 16 2009, 04:16AM
Hey I saw your project at Reno ISEF yesterday! On my way home to Colorado and am at a hotel and thought I'd check the forum and there's your project! Great job!
Turkey9, Sat May 16 2009, 04:16AM
Hey I saw your project at Reno ISEF yesterday! On my way home to Colorado and am at a hotel and thought I'd check the forum and there's your project! Great job!
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
twist2b, Sun May 17 2009, 02:45AM
Can you choose WHERE it levitates? Did you make software to choose the X Y Z coordinates?
I can't tell where you got the PCB and the materials.. its so pretty.
edit - OHHHH and can the contraption be upside down and still work????
And do you have schematicness?
twist2b, Sun May 17 2009, 02:45AM
Can you choose WHERE it levitates? Did you make software to choose the X Y Z coordinates?
I can't tell where you got the PCB and the materials.. its so pretty.
edit - OHHHH and can the contraption be upside down and still work????
And do you have schematicness?
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
cjk2, Mon May 18 2009, 07:42PM
I have never considered adding lag to the system, it seems to me like a faster feedback loop would always be best. It would be easy to slow it down sometime to test your idea tho, so I will if I have time to.
Thanks! ISEF is always lots of fun.
Yes. The software tells the levitator where 0,0,0 is and I can move the object in real time.
I designed the PCB in eagle and had Gold Phoenix make it.
The transparent material is polycarbonate that I milled to shape.
It will work in any orientation with limited capacity with proper calibration.
Sure.
cjk2, Mon May 18 2009, 07:42PM
have you considered slowing down the clock? it could be that you are experiencing an instability issue similar to positive feedback, the fix might be as simple as adding a delay in series with the coil drives..
I have never considered adding lag to the system, it seems to me like a faster feedback loop would always be best. It would be easy to slow it down sometime to test your idea tho, so I will if I have time to.
Hey I saw your project at Reno ISEF yesterday! On my way home to Colorado and am at a hotel and thought I'd check the forum and there's your project! Great job!
Thanks! ISEF is always lots of fun.
Can you choose WHERE it levitates? Did you make software to choose the X Y Z coordinates?
I can't tell where you got the PCB and the materials.. its so pretty.
edit - OHHHH and can the contraption be upside down and still work????
And do you have schematicness?
Yes. The software tells the levitator where 0,0,0 is and I can move the object in real time.
I designed the PCB in eagle and had Gold Phoenix make it.
The transparent material is polycarbonate that I milled to shape.
It will work in any orientation with limited capacity with proper calibration.
Sure.
Re: Repulsive Magnetic Levitation
yong-chen, Mon Oct 03 2011, 03:19AM
Hello Chris ,
I am a college student from China. You have done many beauitiful thing and I have much interesting about the levitator. I want to make one by myself. Now I have successful to make it floated. But I don't know how to move it . I saw your video that you can move it left , right, front, back also up and down, how to make it ??
I know you have used four hall from your SCH. Two hall was used to detect the X,Y direction And the third hall was used to detect the Z direction. What is the fourth hall used for???
Can you give me some sussgestion ??
Thanks very much!
yong-chen, Mon Oct 03 2011, 03:19AM
Hello Chris ,
I am a college student from China. You have done many beauitiful thing and I have much interesting about the levitator. I want to make one by myself. Now I have successful to make it floated. But I don't know how to move it . I saw your video that you can move it left , right, front, back also up and down, how to make it ??
I know you have used four hall from your SCH. Two hall was used to detect the X,Y direction And the third hall was used to detect the Z direction. What is the fourth hall used for???
Can you give me some sussgestion ??
Thanks very much!
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