The first person to observe eddy currents was Francois Arago, his discoveries were completed and explained

by Michael Faraday. In 1834, Heinrich Lenz stated Lenzs law In September 1855, French physicist Lacon Foucault as credited with having discovered Eddy Currents. The first train in commercial circulation to have eddy current brakes has been ICE-3

Many of the ordinary brakes which are being used now days stop the vehicle by means of mechanical blocking. These draw backs of ordinary brakes can be overcome by a simple and effective mechanism of breaking system the eddy current brakes The eddy current brakes work on the basis of Lenzs Law

Eddy Currents
It is a swirling current set up in a conductor in

response to a changing magnetic field. By Lenz's law, the current swirls in such a way as to create a magnetic field opposing the cause.

Eddy current brakes

It slow an object by creating eddy currents

through EMI which create resistance Braking action is made by varying the strength of the magnetic field

Linear Eddy Current Brakes

It consists of a magnetic yoke with electrical

coils which are being magnetized alternately. This magnet does not touch the rail (held at approx 7 mm.) When the magnet is moved along the rail, it generates a non-stationary magnetic field which generates electrical tension and causes eddy currents These disturb the magnetic field in such a way that the magnetic force is diverted to the opposite of the direction of the movement

Circular Eddy Current

A braking force is possible when electric

current is passed through the electromagnets. The movement of the metal through the magnetic field of the electromagnets creates eddy currents in the discs. These eddy currents generate an opposing magnetic field, which then resists the rotation of the discs, providing braking force.

Braking Time of the Disc

The braking time of the disc inversely

proportional to the excitation current

Resistivity of the Disc

The resistivity of the disc is directly

proportional to the power loss

(cm) 3.4 1.7 6.4 72 P(mW) 530 770 390 280

Disc Aluminium Copper Brass Steel

Pe(mW) 360 600 220 110

Pe 1200 1000 1400 7900

It uses electromagnetic force and not mechanical friction Non-mechanical (no moving parts, no friction) Can be activated at will via electrical signal Low maintenance Operates at any rotational speed Light weight

Braking force diminishes as speed diminishes with no ability to hold the load in position at standstill That could be considered to be a safety issue, but it really means that friction braking may need to be used as well Eddy-current brakes can only be used where the infrastructure has been modified to accept them

It is used as a stopping mechanism in trains.

It is also used in the smooth breaking and functioning of roller coasters and such fast moving machines

The eddy current increases with decrease in resistivity of material. Therefore; there is scope of applying copper wire windings of AWG 20 or less to get highly conductive surface and minimum resistance possible to increase the eddy current induced. The magnetic field induced by electromagnet is not too large and can be increased by supplying higher current. Speed of shaft can be increased by providing a gear arrangement instead of chain sprocket assembly of high gear ratios to get higher speeds.

The eddy current brakes can be used an accessory in heavy automobiles with conventional friction brakes. This is easy to install and cost required is small so can be used in the automobile manufactured.

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