Flexible PCB Actuator Can Add Flapping Motion to Your Projects

When your project calls for motion, you most likely reach right for a DC motor, stepper, or servo. If you’re particularly imaginative, you might even consider something exotic like a linear or pneumatic actuator. But, simple electromagnetism — which is the force that makes every electric motor work — can also be used in more unusual ways, like Carl Bugeja’s flexible PCB actuator.

Bugeja recently made headlines with his linear PCB actuator, which had electromagnetic coils on its surface that could pull a permanent magnet slider back and forth along the PCB. That stood out because it’s an inexpensive way to add low-torque linear motion to a build. His new flexible PCB actuator works in a very similar way, and even appears to be using the same PCB layout. But, in this case, the traces are printed on a flexible board that has roughly the same rigidity as a thin plastic ruler.

Unlike like the linear design with the sliding magnet, this is intended to be used with a stationary permanent magnet. The flexible PCB is placed near that magnet, but with a gap between the two. When the coil nearest the magnet is energized, it becomes magnetic and the PCB is pulled to the permanent. In it’s current layout, that results in a flapping motion. We’re not quite sure what you’d use that for in your own projects, but we’re confident you’ll come up with something.