The effects of radiation-induced demagnetization on the performance of the brushless DC motor in robot servo systems

Abstract

The implementation of humanoid robots will be very significant in nuclear accident treatment in substitution of humans; however the electronic and mechanical parts in robots could be damaged by large dose of radiation. In this paper we study the radiation-induced degradation of the brushless DC (BLDC) motor in robot servo systems and propose how its performance would change due to Nd-Fe-B demagnetization. An explanation of the mechanisms relevant to the radiation-induced demagnetization of the Nd-Fe-B magnets is given, and an approach using the motor back-EMF to analytically study the radiation induced performance changes of the BLDC motor is also included.