Voice coil control

[MRlePF]

Hi,

I want to control a voice coil (that I took in a hard disk drive) with Labview through a USB-6351 DAQ card. My problem is that I need to amplify the signal coming out of the DAQ card in order to have enough power to move the voice coil. Also, the response needs to be quick because I want the voice coil to generate a wave with a frequency of approximately 20 HZ.

What is the best way to amplify the signal coming out of the DAQ card?

Thank you

[The_Red_Barron]

Howdy MRIePF,

How much do you need to amplify the signal to drive the voice coil?  You will need build (or buy) an amplifier capable of providing the necessary gain with an adequate frequency response.  20Hz shouldn't be hard to do.  In addition to the amplifier circuit you will also need a power source to drive it.

There are plenty of amplifier design tutorials available on the Internet such as this one.

Regards,

[eileen1363]

Hi Barron,

I have the same issue with the voice coil actuator. The terminal block I use is SCC 68 and it is connected to the PCI 6024E DAQ card. I tried to send an analog signal (sine wave) to the voice coil actuator that is BEI LA18-12-006Z  through the Pin 22 and Pin 54 (AO 0 and AO Ground), but it didn't move, and I used the multipmeter to test the voltage of these pins, it was around 6 V at analog mode and 0 V at DC mode, but these wasn't any current either in AC mode nor DC mode. My question is how should I drive the voice coil actuator, and also I want the actuator to move at frequenccy between 40Hz to 150Hz, how should I do that and do I still need other accessaries, such as amplifier? 

Is there anyway to use the 15V from SCC module to power the AC signal from DAQ card so that the actuator can move?

Last, I have a question about the 15V from SCC module also, when I tested its volatge through multimeter, it was around 30V, which was a far more than ideal 15V, it was supposed to see that or there was something wrong?

Thanks,

Eileen