Professional Documents
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Assembly
and
User’s Manual
by RxBConcept
Table des matières
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................3
2. Check list.....................................................................................................................................4
2.1. 3D printed parts: .................................................................................................................4
2.2. Hardware ............................................................................................................................4
2.3. Levitator Board ....................................................................................................................4
2.4. Coil/Sensor ..........................................................................................................................4
2.5. Bluetooth Module (Optional) ...............................................................................................4
3. 3D Printing ..................................................................................................................................5
4. Soldering .....................................................................................................................................6
5. Wiring the coil .............................................................................................................................7
6. Assembly.....................................................................................................................................9
7. Firmware installation ................................................................................................................ 13
7.1. From source ...................................................................................................................... 13
7.1. From binary ....................................................................................................................... 14
8. Levitating .................................................................................................................................. 15
8.1 Download................................................................................................................................ 15
8.2 LevitatorHost presentation ...................................................................................................... 15
8.3. First connection and initial settings.................................................................................... 17
8.4. Let’s levitate ...................................................................................................................... 20
9. Example of configurations ......................................................................................................... 21
9.1. Small bi-plane .................................................................................................................... 22
9.2. Flying-Heart ....................................................................................................................... 24
Magnetic Levitation is kind of a magical phenomenon as it involves 2 invisible forces: earth gravitation force
and magnetic force.
Magnetic Levitation is achieved when you manage to counter-balance earth gravitation of a permanent magnet
with a magnetic force.
Coil
Principle:
- The PID Setpoint is the sensor value where you want to maintain the levitating magnet.
- When moving up and down, the permanent magnet will modify the sensor readback value.
- The PID control loop will try to maintain the actual sensor reading as close as possible to setpoint by
acting on the coil electrical current to adjust the generated magnetic field and counter-balance the
earth gravitation.
2.2. Hardware
- 1 x Hexagon socket head cap screw M6x40 mm
- 1 x M6 nut
- 5 x Self tapping screw 2.9x13mm
- 2-4 x M2.5x5mm screw (to fix the board in the Levitator base)
Optional components (not needed if you plan to solder leds, sensor and power wires directly to the board.)
2.4. Coil/Sensor
- 1 x SS495A Radiometric linear hall effect sensor (or equivalent)
- ~140m CU wire Ø 0.28mm
- 5 x ~40cm 24-26 AWG wires to connect the coil and sensor to the board.
Optional components (not needed if you plan to solder together CU coil wires to 24-26 AWG wires.)
Optional component (not needed if you don’t plan to turn off Bluetooth.)
Note:
If you plan to add the bluetooth module, consider using a switch to turn it off. Otherwise, you won't
be able to flash the arduino nano via USB without opening the base and unpluging the bluetooth
module.
Both USB and BT modules are wired to the same RX/TX pins and the BT will interfere with the
arduino bootloader when flashing the board.
wire jumper
if no BT switch is used
Wire jumper
or
Only needed if planing to use BT
2.54 pin header+jumper
Fit the screw in and fix with the nut. Insert the CU wire in the small hole from the inside to the
outside. Make sure you have enough length outside for the final connection to the driving wires.
Also, be very careful not to break the outside wire as it is very fragile.
I used a handheld electric screw driver at low speed to wind the coil. Tighten the wire with two
fingers and regularly move it from one side to the other while winding.
You can start filling the smaller part, then continue to the full length. What matters is the
number of turn and the length of the wire.
4. Solder the hall sensor and fit it inside the Sensor-Holder printed part.
+5V
GND
Signal
sensor
coil
Fit the sensor and coil wires thru the Cylinder-Body and the Arm-V2 printed parts.
Insert the coil inside the cylinder and fix it with the sensor cap.
Standby Led
Coil Led
Fix the arm to the Base-Top-V2 printed part with a self-taping screw.
Install the JST 2mm female connectors.
Install the two leds with the connection wires (around 10cm) in the corresponding holes.
- The standby led will light when the Levitator is in standby mode, ie when no magnet is detected.
- The coil led will turn on when the Levitator is trying to maintain the magnet in the air. The intensity
of the led will vary based on the current delivered to the coil.
+/- +/-
signal
Coil (either way)
GND
+5V
Power -/+
Select “Arduino Nano” board with ATmega328 chip in the tools menu.
Select the correct serial port.
Arduino Nano
chip
Serial port
Download the firmware’s binary and flash it using your favorite tool: levitator-1.1.hex
Main screen:
Sensor reading
Sensor setpoint
The send button will send those values to the connected Levitator.
The read button will update those values with the controller values of the connected Levitator.
PID settings:
:.
There are two sets of PID values, A and B, and a Wave Form Generator that can interpolate between
the A and B settings.
The send button will send the corresponding A or B settings to the connected Levitator.
The read button will update the corresponding A or B settings with the current values of the
connected Levitator.
The start button will start the waveform generator and control the levitating object according to the
selected wave form.
- Get some N50 and N35 permanent magnets (I have some N50 cubes and N35 cylinders)
- Prepare your first levitating object. The lighter the easier !! My first try was a bare N50 cube
with a small screw attach to it.
- A 12V 800mA power supply (the quality/stability is quite important here).
- A USB mini cable
- A Levitator (obviously)
- Some coffee or whatever that can keep you awake
- A Yoga book or anything that can calm you down.
1. Grab a N50 magnet choose an orientation N/S and place it under the hall effect sensor.
2. If the red line is going up --> change the magnet orientation and try again.
3. The red line should go down and the coil should start generating a magnetic field.
4. If the magnet is rejected by the coil, then check the “sensor reverse” check box and press the
“send” button. Reverse your magnet orientation then repeat from step 3.
5. Your magnet should be attracted by the Coil.
Use the “File” menu -> Save As Default to store this initial configuration.
Remember your magnet orientation as it will be the required orientation for the levitation.
Also, to help position your levitating object, you can place a small N35 magnet on top of the coil
core bolt. Place it in the reverse orientation, so that it will “reject” the levitating object when too
close to the sensor cap.
Now that everything is configured and oriented correctly, let’s levitate our first object.
The explanations are for a 50ohm coil powered at 12V, with a N50 cube 10x10x10 magnet.
The small bi-plane, the christmas-tree and the heart are quite “easy” to levitate.
The procedure with other characteristics is the same, but values may differ.
Note also, that levitation of “heavy” object is more unstable and more difficult to achieve.
Initial values:
For more details on PID controller and especially on manual tuning, please refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller
9. Example of configurations
- 50ohms coil.
- 12V power supply.
- SS495A Radiometric linear hall effect sensor.
- non reversed sensor.
Levitation PID A:
Levitation PID A: