Magnetic abrasive finishing of curved surfaces

Abstract

A system for magnetic abrasive finishing of a workpiece may include a magnetic abrasive brush that may include a plurality of magnetic/abrasive particles and an electromagnet configured to apply a magnetic field on the plurality of magnetic abrasive particles. The system may further include a first actuating mechanism that may be configured to actuate a rotational movement of the workpiece about a longitudinal axis of the workpiece, a second actuating mechanism that may be configured to actuate a linear movement of the magnetic abrasive brush along a first direction relative to the workpiece, the first direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the workpiece, a sensor coupled to the magnetic abrasive brush that may be configured to measure a working gap between the magnetic abrasive brush and an outer surface of the workpiece at any given instant. The working gap may be a distance between a center of the magnetic field and the outer surface of the workpiece along a first axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the workpiece. The system may further include a control unit that may be coupled to the magnetic abrasive brush and may be configured to adjust a magnetic flux density of the magnetic field based on the measured working gap at any given instant.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.