Primarily used in variable speed

devices, these clutches and brakes

cannot be operated at zero slip. They
consist primarily of an input drum,
stationary field coil, and a coupling
pole assembly that acts as an output
rotor, Figure 7. When the field coil is
energized, magnetic flux links the input
drum with the coupling pole assembly.
Eddy currents, developed
when the input drum rotates, create a
new magnetic field that interacts
with the field in the pole assembly,
creating coupling torque proportional
to coil current.
At zero slip, the eddy current brake
has no torque, thus it cannot be used
where holding a load is required. They
are useful for providing drag loads
needed in applications such as tensioning.
It is desirable to design the vehicle for the real usage by a customer populatio
n. In order to
do that we need to evaluate the load influentials described in Section 1.3, both
their typical
values and their variations. Consequently, it is necessary to obtain this inform
ation from the
customers in some way. Here, there are several options, such as a questionnaire
of customer
usage, measurements of service loads on some specific customers, and on-board-lo
gging
devices on a large number of customers. All these options require careful planni
ng in order
to obtain useful data. In this context the statistical planning of experiments a
re well suited.
These issues are discussed in Chapter 8.