A Novel Method for Field Analysis, Design and Construction of a Lifting Electromagnet

The magnetic crane is an example of industrial applications of magnetic absorption in which an electromagnet is used to create the necessary magnetic force for lifting and moving objects. There are various structures for the shape of electromagnet’s core, but studies show that the U_I structure with a symmetrical winding is the most appropriate one in terms of reducing the loss due to leakage flux and fringing effect. The purpose of this paper is presenting a novel method for field analysis and designing an electromagnet. Focusing on the leakage flux and fringing effect, and taking into consideration the nonlinear behavior of the B-H curve and saturation point of ferromagnetic core, a new magnetic equivalent circuit for the electromagnet is proposed. For numerical analysis and design of the electromagnet, the Matlab software and for simulation of its magnetic field and force, the ANSYS MAXWELL software has been used. To verify the accuracy of the presented method, the prototype of an electromagnet has been made, in accordance with the design parameters extracted from the proposed algorithm. The comparison between measurements and simulation results show that the error is less than 2%, which confirms the accuracy of the proposed method.