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Characteristic analysis of eddy-current brake system using the linear Halbach

array

Article  in  IEEE Transactions on Magnetics · October 2002

DOI: 10.1109/TMAG.2002.803191 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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2994 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 38, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER 2002

Characteristic Analysis of Eddy-Current Brake

System Using the Linear Halbach Array
Seok-Myeong Jang, Member, IEEE, Sung-Ho Lee, and Sang-Sub Jeong

Abstract—We apply a linear Halbach magnetized mover to

an eddy-current braking system for high speed. On the basis of
analytical two-dimensional field solutions considering end effects,
this paper deals with the magnetic field, eddy current distribution,
forces according to the secondary relative permeability, and
conductivity. We also present comparisons between analytical
results and experimental data.
(a)
Index Terms—Eddy-current braking, end effect, Halbach array,
high speed.

I. INTRODUCTION

A N EDDY-CURRENT braking system of high-speed

railway is developed because of the adhesion limit.
Linear eddy-current braking systems are used in magnetic
(b) (c)

levitation applications and in high-speed vehicles in order to
avoid the abrasion of mechanical disc brake [1]. The eddy-cur-
rent braking system with dc-excited magnet inherently needs
the power supply and has the consequent power losses. If the
dc-excited magnetic poles are replaced with permanent magnet,
a braking system has a high efficiency due to no power losses
and a high power/weight ratio. In particular, the braking system
with a linear Halbach magnetized mover develops a higher
braking force because of the strong flux density [2].
For high-speed linear braking system, dynamic end effects
are caused by the relative motion between the mover of a fi-
nite length and an infinitely long secondary. As a result, the at-
traction force decreases notably with speed and, furthermore, a
magnetic drag force occurs [3]. In the characteristic analysis of
linear braking system with magnet for high speed, the end effect
should be necessarily accounted for.
In this paper, linear Halbach magnetized mover is applied to
eddy current braking system for high speed. For such a breaker,
we give analytical formulas considering end effects for its mag-
netic field, eddy current distribution, forces according to the sec-
ondary relative permeability, and conductivity. The analytical
results are also compared to the experimental data.
Fig. 1. Eddy-current braking system using linear Halbach array. (a) Schematic
of eddy current braking system. (b) Magnetostatic field distribution in the
transverse direction. (c) Magnetostatic field distribution in the longitudinal
direction.
1) The flux density distribution in the air gap is symmetric
to the center of the secondary in the transverse direction
( direction), as shown in Fig. 1(b), and sinusoidal in the
longitudinal direction ( direction), as shown in Fig. 1(c).
2) The induced currents in the secondary vary sinusoidally
along the transverse direction.
Using the Fourier series method, the air-gap flux density fun-
damental distribution in the longitudinal direction is
(1)
where the magnetization is related to the remanence by
, is the spatial wavenumber, is the magnet
height, and is the air gap. The air-gap flux density transverse
distribution is

II. PROBLEM FORMULATION

A. Model and Assumptions (2)
In order to obtain an analytical solution of the eddy-current
where is the effective pole width.
braking system with a linear Halbach array mover shown in
Fig. 1(a), the following assumptions are made. B. Field Equations
According to the above assumptions, the air-gap reaction field
Manuscript received February 11, 2002; revised May 27, 2002.
The authors are with the Electrical Engineering Department, Chungnam fulfills the equations
National University, Taejeon 305-764, Korea (e-mail: smjang@ee.cnu.ac.kr;
shlee@ee.chungnam.ac.kr; sangsub@ee.chungnam.ac.kr).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2002.803191.
(3)

0018-9464/02$17.00 © 2002 IEEE

JANG et al.: CHARACTERISTIC ANALYSIS OF EDDY-CURRENT BRAKE SYSTEM 2995

(a)

Fig. 2. Magnetostatic field distribution due to magnet source.

where is the electric conductivity of the secondary, is the

relative mover speed, and is the field penetration depth. The
solution of (3) takes the forms

(4)
(b)
where , , and Fig. 3. (a) Distributions of the eddy current density in the transverse direction
. The integration constants are ob- and (b) flux density in the longitudinal direction.
tained from the boundary conditions, field and current density
continuity at and [3].

C. Forces Calculation
Using the coenergy method, the attraction force on the
magnet is given by

(5)

where is the field due to the permanent magnet. On the

other hand, the lift force is given by
Fig. 4. Drag and attraction forces versus speed for three different values of the
(6) secondary relative permeability.

where is the equivalent magnetizing current density in in the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction. The
magnet source, and is the eddy-current density in the analysis model has the following parameters: magnet height
secondary plate. The drag force may be determined from mm, width mm, and length mm.
the secondary power loss The magnet array consists of NdFeB material with remanence
1.1 tesla. For a fixed value of the secondary conduc-
(7) tivity and permeability, Fig. 3(a) and (b) shows how the trans-
verse eddy-current density and absolute value of air-gap flux
where density longitudinal distributions vary for two different
speeds, respectively. It can be seen that, for the speed is high,
the eddy current density increases and the air-gap flux density
has a nonuniform distribution. These phenomena are called “end
effect.” For a fixed low value of the secondary conductivity, the
drag and attraction force variation with speed is calculated and
III. SIMULATION RESULTS ACCORDING TO THE SECONDARY
plotted in Fig. 4 for three different values of the secondary rel-
PERMEABILITY AND CONDUCTIVITY
ative permeability. Fig. 5 shows the drag and lift force variation
Using three-dimensional (3-D) finite-element analysis, Fig. 2 with speed for three different values of the secondary conduc-
shows the magnetostatic field distribution due to magnet source tivity. In this case, the secondary relative permeability is 1.
2996 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 38, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER 2002

Fig. 5. Drag and lift forces versus speed for three different values of the
secondary conductivity. Fig. 7. Comparison of the drag forces between the analytical and experimental
results.

IV. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATIONS

For the experimental verifications on the simulation, we man-
ufactured testing apparatus, as shown in Fig. 6. The testing ap-
paratus is composed of the block gage for measuring the drag
force, circular rail, and rotary induction motor for rotating the
rail, tachometer, inverter, and so on. In particular, the block gage
mounted linear Halbach array consists of the load cell, plate
spring, and mechanical fuse.
Table I shows the specifications of the eddy current braking
system, such as the mechanical dimension and the conductivity
and material of the rail. Fig. 7 shows the comparison on the
(a) plots of the drag forces between analytical results and the ex-
perimental data. It is observed that the error between analytical
and experimental result is 15% for the speed 140 km/h.

V. CONCLUSION
A Halbach magnetized mover was applied to a high-speed
eddy current braking system. Based on analytical 2-D field so-
lutions considering dynamic end effect, the magnetic field, eddy
current distribution, and forces according to the secondary rel-
ative permeability and conductivity were presented. It was ob-
served that the air-gap flux density has a nonuniform distribu-
tion for the high speed. Comparisons between numerical simu-
lations and experimental data were also presented.
(b)
Fig. 6. (a) Schematic and (b) photograph of testing apparatus. REFERENCES
[1] P. J. Wang, “Analysis of eddy-current brakes for high speed railway,”
TABLE I
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE EDDY-CURRENT BRAKING SYSTEM IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 34, pp. 1237–1239, July 1998.
[2] S. M. Jang, S. S. Jeong, and S. D. Cha, “The application of linear Hal-
bach array to eddy current rail brake system,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol.
37, pp. 2627–2629, July 2001.
[3] I. Boldea and S. A. Nasar, Linear Motion Electromagnetic Sys-
tems. New York: Wiley, 1985.
[4] M. Fujita, “3-dimensional electromagnetic analysis and design of
an eddy-current rail brake system,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 34, pp.
3548–3551, Sept. 1998.
[5] D. L. Trumper, “Magnet arrays for synchronous machines,” in Proc.
IEEE IAS 28th Annu. Meeting, 1993, pp. 9–18.
[6] K. Halbach, “Physical and optical properties of rare earth cobalt mag-
nets,” Nucl. Inst. Methods, pp. 109–117, 1981.

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