MAGNETIC ACTUATOR DRIVE FOR ACTUATION AND RESETTING OF MAGNETIC ACTUATION MATERIALS

摘要

A magnetic actuator (10) is provided including a magnetic field-actuated material (18) and a plurality of interconnected electrically conducting coils(14, 16), each coil including a number of wire turns arranged relative to at least one other coil to produce at the magnetic field-actuated material, by superposition, a magnetic field that is substantially oriented in one of a plurality of selectable discrete directions. An actuator drive circuit (23) is connected to the coils in a circuit configuration that reverses a direction of electrical current flow through at least one of the coils to reorient the magnetic field from a first selected direction to a second selected direction of the plurality of selectable discrete directions.