A cylindrical linear induction motor (CLIM) has no coil ends, and therefore it has higher propulsion force and power factor compared with a flat linear induction motor. The purpose of this study is to investigate of the application of CLIM to actuators of machine tools. First, a CLIM trial machine increasing effective flux and reducing eddy currents, which has good performance and simple structure, was manufactured. Next, a CLIM device for machine tools using the CLIM trial machine and commercially available accessories, such as a motor driver and a linear encoder, was manufactured and tested for practical application.
From the test results, the effect of excitation frequency on propulsion force, the effect of velocity on the ripple of propulsion force and its positioning performance are clarified. It was also found that the device using the CLIM and commercially available accessories has enough potential performance to be used for the actuator of the practical machine tools.