1. Advisor: Dr. Patrick McDowell ET494– Senior Design Ii Spring 2016
Linear Actuator
Rodney Arceneaux & Steven Parker
Advisor: Dr. Patrick McDowell
ET494– Senior Design Ii
Spring 2016

2. Introduction What is an actuator?
An actuator is a type of motor that is responsible for moving or controlling a mechanism or system.
Applications for electric actuator
Advantages of electric actuator

3. Objective
The objective of this assignment is to build our own linear actuator and to control it using Arduino
To make a cost-effective actuator without trade off in power
Implement our created linear actuator in the “Strong Arm Actuator” design
The “Strong Arm Actuator” design is a system of two actuators to create a two-jointed arm

4. Materials Materials will include CIM Dc motor 24v
Victor 883 Motor Controller
Sprockets
Threaded Rods
Chain
Arduino
Ultrasonic Sensor
And more…

5. Challenges To make the linear actuator as efficient as possible
Design it to make movements rapidly (unloaded)
Build it to be able to handle heavy loads
Make Arduino able to communicate with the Victor and then the Victor with the motor

6. Research The Victor 884 requires a PWM signal of 1ms – 2ms
1ms being full reverse and 2ms being full forward

7. Design Model
Credit for original design : Ian Anderson

8. Design

9. Design

10. Design Issues/Troubleshooting
There were a few problems we encountered with this project
The first issue were the Victor motor controllers
The second issue was learning how to correctly drive a signal from Arduino
The third issue involved the CIM motor not turning properly
The fourth issue is that the moving block gets jammed

11. Design Changes
The guide rods help keep the moving block on the desired course
When we test the threaded rod with a drill in reverse it tends to jam
Modifying original design to have sliding rails instead of guide rods

12. Design Changes

13. Timeline (Fall) FALL 2015 Proposal and Presentation 10/08/15 COMPLETE
Order of Materials /14/15 COMPLETE
Arduino & Victor Interface /21/15 COMPLETE
Research and Calculations /28/15 COMPLETE
Final report and presentation /04/15 COMPLETE
Build Actuator prototype /12/15 COMPLETE

14. Timeline (Spring) Spring 2016
Proposal and Presentation /05/16 COMPLETE
Finish Building 2nd Actuator /20/16 NOT COMPLETE
Design System for Actuators /10/16 NOT COMPLETE
Complete Two Jointed Arm /21/16 NOT COMPLETE
Arduino Implementation w/ switches /28/16 NOT COMPLETE
Test load capacity /18/16 NOT COMPLETE
Final repot and presentation /12/16 NOT COMPLETE

15. Questions?