PHYSICS PROJECT

EDDY CURRENT BRAKING

SYSTEM

1
SL NO. TOPIC PAGE NUMBER
1. Teacher’s certificate 3
2. Acknowledgement 4
3. Introduction 5
4. Experiment 1 6
5. Experiment 2 7
Undesirable effects of eddy
6. 8
currents
7. Minimization 9
8. Applications 10
9. Applications(continued) 11
10. Principle of model 12
11. Bibliography 13

2
 TEACHER’S CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Sampurna Ghosh, student of class XII S4 of Bhavan’s

Gangabux Kanoria Vidyamandir has done her project “EDDY CURRENT
BRAKING SYSTEM” under my guidance.

Signature of teacher Signature of External

3
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The euphoria and joy, accompanying the successful

completion of my task would be incomplete without the
special mention of those people whose guidance and
encouragement made my effort successful.

I steal this opportunity to express my sincere heartfelt

gratitude to my respected Physics teacher Dr. Maitreyee
Banerjee who with zeal encouragement, benevolent and
outstanding patience helped me in making this endeavor
grand success, her invaluable timely advice, enthusiasm,
thought and guidance are reflected on every page of this
report.

My gratitude to my Lab Assistant sir for his cooperation.

4
Last but not the least I owe my sincere thanks to all those
who helped me in many tangible and intangible ways.

Marisha Ghosh

INTRODUCTION

Currents can be induced, not only in conducting coils, but

also in conducting sheets or blocks. Whenever the magnetic
flux linked with a metal sheet or block changes, an emf is
induced in it. The induced currents flow in closed paths in
planes perpendicular to the lines of force throughout the
body of the metal. These currents look like eddies or
whirlpools in water and so they are known as eddy
currents. As these currents were first discovered by
Focault in 1895, they are also known as Focault currents.

5
EXPERIMENT 1 TO DEMONSTRATE EDDY
CURRENTS

We have taken a pendulum having its bob in the form of a flat

copper plate. It is free to oscillate between the pole pieces of an
electromagnet. In the absence of any magnetic field, the pendulum
swings freely. As the electromagnet is switched on, the oscillations
of the pendulum get highly damped and soon it comes to rest. This
is because as the copper plate moves in between the pole pieces of
the magnet, magnetic flux threading through it changes. So eddy
currents are set up in it which according to Lenz’s law, oppose the
motion of the copper plate in the magnetic field. Eddy currents

6
flow anticlockwise as the plate swings into the field and clockwise
as the plate swings out of the field.

EXPERIMENT 2 T DEMONSTRATE EDDY

CURRENTS

Now we have taken the pendulum of a flat copper plate with

narrow slots cut across it. As the electromagnet is switched on,
eddy currents are set up in the plate, but this plate swings for
longer duration than the plate without slots. This is because the
loop has much larger paths for the electrons to travel. Larger paths
offer more resistance to electrons and so the eddy currents are
sufficiently reduced. As a result, the opposition to the oscillations
becomes very small.

7
 UNDESIRABLE EFFECTS OF EDDY
CURRENTS

Eddy currents are produced inside the iron cores of the

rotating armatures of electric motors and dynamos, and also
in the cores of transformers which experience flux changes

8
when they are in use. Eddy currents cause unnecessary
heating and wastage of power. The heat produced by eddy
currents may even damage the insulation of coils.

MINIMISATION

The eddy currents can be reduced by using laminated core which

instead of a single solid mass consists of thin sheets of metal,
insulated from each other by a thin later of varnish. The planes of
the sheets are placed perpendicular to the direction of the currents
that would be set up by the emf induced in the material. The
insulation between the sheets then offers high resistance to the
induced emf and the eddy currents are substantially reduced.

9
 APPLICATIONS OF EDDY CURRENTS

• Electric brakes: A strong magnetic field is applied to

the rotating drum attached to the wheel. Eddy currents
set up in the drum exert a torque on the drum to stop
the train.
• Electromagnetic damping: When a current is passed
through a galvanometer, its coil suffers few
oscillations before coming to rest in the final position.

1
 As the coil moves in the magnetic field, induced
current is set in the coil which opposes its motion. The
oscillations of the coil are damped. This is called
electromagnetic damping. The electromagnetic
damping can be further increased by winding the coil
on a light copper or aluminum frame. As the frame
moves in the magnetic field, eddy currents are set up
in the frame which resist the motion of the coil. This is
how a galvanometer is rendered dead beat, i.e., the
coil does not oscillate – it deflects and stays in the
final position immediately.

APPLICATIONS (CONTINUED)

Apart from the above mentioned devices, eddy

currents also find applications in:

• Induction furnace
• Speedometers

1
 • Induction motor
• Electromagnetic shielding
• Inductothermy
• Energy meters

Eddy currents can be induced in biological tissues. For

example, the cavity of the eye is filled with a conducting
fluid. A large transient magnetic field of 1T alternating at a
frequency of 60 Hz then induces such a large current in the
retina that is produces a sensation of intense brightness.

PRINCIPLE OF EDDY CURRENT BRAKE

Eddy current brake works according to Faraday’s law of

electromagnetic induction as explained earlier. During
breaking, the metal disc is exposed to a magnetic field from
an electromagnet, generating eddy currents in the disc. The

1
magnetic interaction between the applied field and the eddy
currents slow down the rotating disc. Thus, the wheels of
the vehicle also slow down since the wheels are directly
coupled to the disc of the eddy current brake, thus
producing smooth stopping motion.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The following websites and books were incorporated as

references and were crucial in the completion of the
project:

1
• Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick and
Walker
• New Simplified Physics by S.L. Arora
• https://www.sciencedirect.com
• https://content.iospress.com