Re: lab electromagnet from scratch
Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 8:37 pm
Chris, thanks for the electrical conductor price-per-pound data. Its importance is one of the main learnings and teachings of our projects.
Now an update on the three-inch magnet. Filling voids using TIG torch, in my inexperienced hands, was not worth the trouble. Minor "pits" remain after both bars were finished to the target length, with ends flat and square, within about 0.001". (As we pretend that 1" x 4" shapes can be called square.) Then it was only a matter of drilling a few holes, and tapping four of them, before a declaration that yoke assembly has begun.
Ever wonder about teenage amateur scientists driven by birthday deadlines? I'm facing the horrible spectre of five years elapsed since original post about this project. Here's one statement from early on:
This magnet project is to:
* get my hands dirty
* test my purported knowledge of E & M, engineering, and practical scrounging
* explore the low-cost low-power corner of magnets producing 1 tesla in 1 inch air gap.
Here's the post which presents the starter plates. Sort of like the stone, or nail, with which to begin making a tasty and wholesome soup. Also the first scale drawing. viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8600#p59448
As mentioned more than once before, and as the Mullins family well knows, electric power requirement is not very sensitive to pole area. But it goes up as the square of air gap length, and as the square of flux density B. And it goes down in direct proportion to conductor mass going up, if the average turn length doesn't change.
The scale drawings below illustrate that principle, and the 2015 evolution of my design. Grid is 1", just like in that early drawing. In all cases the cross-sectional area of flux paths in the yoke is slightly more than that in the cylindrical pole pieces. All coils have the same winding area and current density, and generate the same flux density in air gap. All pole pieces are 7" long, a consequence of my coil conductor choice. The 6" magnet is 20" x 20" on the outside, and to my eye has an ordinary aspect ratio.
The 3" magnet in the middle uses 22% as much steel but 71% as much conductor and power (same as ratio of average turn length).
The 3" magnet on the right is what's being assembled. The original flat-finished plates go on the sides instead of the ends. That makes the air gap length infinitely adjustable, without any precision turning or boring. Predicted and measured steel weight is 56 lbs for the four central parts, and forecast to be 102 lbs when side plates are included.
Now an update on the three-inch magnet. Filling voids using TIG torch, in my inexperienced hands, was not worth the trouble. Minor "pits" remain after both bars were finished to the target length, with ends flat and square, within about 0.001". (As we pretend that 1" x 4" shapes can be called square.) Then it was only a matter of drilling a few holes, and tapping four of them, before a declaration that yoke assembly has begun.
Ever wonder about teenage amateur scientists driven by birthday deadlines? I'm facing the horrible spectre of five years elapsed since original post about this project. Here's one statement from early on:
This magnet project is to:
* get my hands dirty
* test my purported knowledge of E & M, engineering, and practical scrounging
* explore the low-cost low-power corner of magnets producing 1 tesla in 1 inch air gap.
Here's the post which presents the starter plates. Sort of like the stone, or nail, with which to begin making a tasty and wholesome soup. Also the first scale drawing. viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8600#p59448
As mentioned more than once before, and as the Mullins family well knows, electric power requirement is not very sensitive to pole area. But it goes up as the square of air gap length, and as the square of flux density B. And it goes down in direct proportion to conductor mass going up, if the average turn length doesn't change.
The scale drawings below illustrate that principle, and the 2015 evolution of my design. Grid is 1", just like in that early drawing. In all cases the cross-sectional area of flux paths in the yoke is slightly more than that in the cylindrical pole pieces. All coils have the same winding area and current density, and generate the same flux density in air gap. All pole pieces are 7" long, a consequence of my coil conductor choice. The 6" magnet is 20" x 20" on the outside, and to my eye has an ordinary aspect ratio.
The 3" magnet in the middle uses 22% as much steel but 71% as much conductor and power (same as ratio of average turn length).
The 3" magnet on the right is what's being assembled. The original flat-finished plates go on the sides instead of the ends. That makes the air gap length infinitely adjustable, without any precision turning or boring. Predicted and measured steel weight is 56 lbs for the four central parts, and forecast to be 102 lbs when side plates are included.