An Application of Integrated STEM to Spin-Stabilized Magnetic Levitation

An iSTEM study of spin-stabilized magnetic levitation of permanent magnets was completed as a case study for the proof of concept of small iSTEM projects. This was achieved by positioning a permanent magnet near another rotating permanent magnet. It is a captivating phenomenon observable when the rotating magnet reaches a sufficiently high number of rounds per minute (rpm). This effect can be reproduced using basic components. The spin-stabilized magnetic levitation was investigated focusing for the first time on the rpm behavior of the floater magnet, which differs from previous studies that typically measured only the rotor rpm. NdFeB magnets, including $5 \times 5 \times 5 \mathrm{~mm}$ floater cube magnets and $10 \times 10 \times 10 \mathrm{~mm}$ rotor magnets, were used in this study. The floating magnet’s rpm was measured using a DT-2234C+ laser tachometer, while the rotor rpm was recorded with a 3144E Hall effect sensor connected to a Raspberry Pi 4 device and subsequently displayed. Data for both the rotor and floater magnets were collected via a camera mounted on a holder to capture simultaneously both rpm readings. Images were taken using a Bluetooth shutter, with the data later being entered into an Excel file for further pre-processing and analysis. The study primarily examines the relationship between the rotor and floater rpm. The data revealed that although the floating magnet’s rpm increases with rotor speed, it never exceeds approximately $8,000 \mathrm{rpm}$, even when the motor reaches speeds of around $23,000 \mathrm{rpm}$. This shows that the spin-stabilized behavior of magnetostatic interactions gives a substantially lower floating magnet’s rpm than that of the rotor. The completion of this small iSTEM project was a subject of evaluation to obtain simple but reliable metrics which could be used for a series of such projects. A bi-directional graph on a tetrahedron topology was used to establish a matrix of normalized weighting coefficients of influence among disciplines. The term Coefficient of Influence (CoI) was introduced to obtain the total matrix weight equal to 0.225 in this project. While being much lower than the ideal normalized CoI equal to unity, it is acceptable for a small iSTEM project.