Abstract
The goal of this project is to demonstrate an electronically controlled a magnetic latch system driven by shape memory alloy that is capable of lifting and securing a large load. The proposed magnetic latch system does not consume energy when it is latched and it only requires minimal amount of energy to unlatch. To accomplish that, a dynamically controlled magnetic array is utilized in the latching system. The arrangement of the magnets in the array is controlled using shape memory alloy to change the direction of the array’s magnetic field, allowing the system to switch between latching and unlatching state. When the system is in the latching state, the magnets are arranged such that it will produce a strong uniform magnetic latching force. When unlatching, the magnets are rearranged to shift the magnetic field pattern, allowing the latch to be opened. In this paper, the theory and design of the novel magnetic latch system are described. The operation of the latch system is demonstrated and the maximum latch force is measured and reported.