Author Topic: Playing with Eddy Currents  (Read 2483 times)

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taylorp035

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Playing with Eddy Currents
« on: July 30, 2010, 10:09:56 PM »
Just a few minutes ago, I was playing with my magnets and decided to try out the eddy current thing.  I had a 5/8" thick, ~6"x30" piece of aluminum.  Also I had a wood board with 3 hard drive magnets screwed down to it.  So then I pushed the magnets across the aluminum, which lead to a significant resistance to my pushing.  Next I angled the aluminum in the air and let the magnets slide down it, which they took a moments to hit the bottom.

So, the next thought that comes to mind is make a eddy current clutch for various applications, maybe like a go-kart, or even a windmill.
Maybe I will make a video of my findings....

Anyone else have fun with eddy currents?

Ungrounded Lightning Rod

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Re: Playing with Eddy Currents
« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2010, 10:14:57 PM »
A classic demo is to drop a strong magnet down a copper pipe.  Its field cuts the pipe in essentially all orientations so it falls quite slowly.  A neo might take several seconds per foot.

taylorp035

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Re: Playing with Eddy Currents
« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2010, 11:02:26 PM »
^ I have seen some videos of that before.

artv

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Re: Playing with Eddy Currents
« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2010, 11:08:26 PM »
Thats strange ............I was just tyring the same thing .....................seems as gravity pulls mag downward.........mag produces current in pipe ........which counters gravity ..............or the eddy currents(as current flows creates an opposite reaction).........which in turn are a result of the slowing action.............not anti-gravity...........but a way ..............maybe control gravity.......I know it took work to elevate the mag to drop it but ...............has anybody ever tried this before..........and which is stronger .......the eddies or the forward flow...........very interesting...........artv

Ungrounded Lightning Rod

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Re: Playing with Eddy Currents
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2010, 03:17:34 PM »
which is stronger .......the eddies or the forward flow.

The eddy currents are created by the motion of the magnet.  If it's holding still there's no force to oppose gravity.  The faster it falls, the more retarding force.  So it fall at the speed where the forces match.

Use thinner copper or a more resistive metal in the pipe and the magnet will fall faster.

taylorp035

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Re: Playing with Eddy Currents
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2010, 09:07:03 PM »
I am not sure what I am going to do with an eddy current clutch, but I was thinking that a person could build a very high TSR blade set for a windmill and combine an eddy current clutch to make some previously impossible motors work as generators.

artv

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Re: Playing with Eddy Currents
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2010, 09:31:17 PM »
 "So it fall at the speed where the forces match."                                                                                                                                                                                            does this mean that as the magnet falls it creates electron migration to one spot in the tube,opposite the polarity of the magnet.....which slows it down


Ungrounded Lightning Rod

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Re: Playing with Eddy Currents
« Reply #7 on: August 04, 2010, 06:45:09 PM »
"So it fall at the speed where the forces match."                                                                                             
does this mean that as the magnet falls it creates electron migration to one spot in the tube,opposite the polarity of the magnet.....which slows it down

Nope.  No electron migration and gross electric field attraction from electron concentrations.  Just magnetic fields - and forces on electrons (in the pipe and the magnet) when they move relative to the fields.

The electrons go round-and-round in an eddy around the place where the mag field from each pole penetrates the pipd's metal, as the magnet's pole slides down the pipe.  The circulating current creates a magnetic (di)pole in the conductive metal of the pipe, which attracts the pole of the magnet.  The resistive losses from the current cause the induced pole to lag behind the magnet in its travel, pulling it upward, in an electromagnetic equivalent of fluid friction.

(Conductors where current can flow tend to "pin" the magnetic field passing through them, resisting any change to it.  They absorb the mechanical energy used to drag the field through.  Current that goes through an external circuit can dissipate the power there - that's a generator.  Current that travels in little loops through the conductive material dissipates the power in resistive heating there - that's eddy current losses {in thick wires or metal flux-path cores}.  Slicing the metal thinner (at angles other than perpendicular to the mag field) breaks some of the parasitic circular paths, reducing their contribution to losses and drag - that's laminating the cores, or winding the coils with thinner wire N-in-hand, to reduce eddy current losses.)

The faster the magnet falls, the stronger the induced field from the induced current in the pipe, and the harder it pulls to retard the falling magnet.  The magnet's speed stabilizes when the strength of the retarding magnetic pull matches the pull of gravity.