Levitation characteristics analysis of a diamagnetically stabilized levitation structure

Abstract

A diamagnetically stabilized levitation structure is composed of a floating magnet, diamagnetic material, and a lifting magnet. The floating magnet is freely levitated between two diamagnetic plates without any external energy input. In this paper, the levitation characteristics of a floating magnet were firstly studied through simulation. Three different levitation states were found by adjusting the gap between the two diamagnetic plates, namely symmetric monostable levitation, bistable levitation, and asymmetric monostable levitation. Then, according to experimental com-parison, it was found that the stability of the symmetric monostable levitation system is better than that of the other two. Lastly, the maximum moving space that allows the symmetric monostable levitation state is investigated by Taguchi method. The key factors affecting the maximum gap were determined as the structure parameters of the floating magnet and the thickness of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) sheets. According to the optimal parameters, work performance was obtained by an experiment with an energy harvester based on the diamagnetic levitation structure. The effective value of voltage is 250.69 mV and the power is 86.8 µW. An LED light is successfully lit on when the output voltage is boosted with a Cockcroft–Walton cascade voltage doubler circuit. This work offers an effective method to choose appropriate parameters for a diamagnetically stabilized levitation structure.