Micro Robot Levitation in Low Speed Wind Tunnels

The study of flight and aerodynamics is often accompanied by the use of wind tunnels. These instruments allow for a constant study of the intended subject by reversing the role of movement between the medium and the “flying” entity. At the micro robotic scale interference through strut platforms can become critical when speeds are as low as 5 m/s. 

After constructing conventional platforms to interface the robots with the wind tunnel we came to the conclusion that a levitation system to hover the robots in the wind tunnel would allow for a more accurate study of the micro robots without the interference of struts. We decided to build a levitation system developed by Barry Hansen in order to modify the design to suit the wind tunnel constraints. 

The circuit we used modifies the current that runs through the electromagnet thereby increasing and decreasing the magnetic force to create a hovering effect. The modulation of this effect is governed by the detection of infrared light emitted by an infrared LED and 2 infrared detectors. The more light detected the more current that runs through, indicating that the hovering magnet is falling below a certain threshold. 

At this point we have completed a first generation levitation system and aim to study its capabilities in order to modify the circuitry and build a more aerodynamic body to incase the electronics. This research was run through an REU program at Harvard and will be continued in the 2012 fall semester at Harvard.