A new Thomson coil actuator: Principle and analysis

A new design of Thomson coil (TC) actuator based on pressure buffer for high-speed switch (HSS) is proposed, in which the pressure buffer is realized by utilizing the internal flow field variation caused by the fast moving of metal plate in the enclosed actuator. The dynamic characteristics of the actuator have been investigated by using a new model with multiphysics field effects of flow field, transient electromagnetic field, electric circuit, and mechanical motion coupled in the calculation. Compared with the traditional simulation models, such a model well considers the influence of flow field on the motion of a metal plate. To show the validity and usefulness of this proposed model, a prototype of HSS based on TC actuator is successfully developed, which shows sufficient dynamic performance with satisfying pressure buffer. In contrast to laminar, the turbulence model predicts a closer result to the measurements with stronger pressure buffer and is more suitable to calculate the dynamic characteristics of the actuator. Finally, the influences of metal components in the actuator on the opening process and different design parameters on pressure buffer are analyzed in detail.