Mag-Num Consulting Services, LLC is an organization that provides customers with information on the electromagnetic field behavior of their devices using state of the art electromagnetic Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software provided by the Ansoft Corporation. www.Ansoft.com
Why One Would Perform Electromagnetic FEA:
The following are some scenarios of why one would want to know the electromagnetic and/or electromechanical performance of a device.
• How a device operates in the field before building costly prototypes.
• Evaluate the electromagnetic fields if the unit is not performing as intended to assess possible
short-falls in the design.
• Reduce cost by modifying a design (excitation coil parameters, steel size, steel material,
permanent magnet material.)
Figure 1. Electric Field Analysis of a Circuit Breaker Molding
FEA allows one to model, predict, and answer “what if” questions regarding the electromagnetic performance of designs before building costly prototypes. A sampling of output information could include: Magnetic Flux Density, Magnetic Field Strength, Current Density, Torque, Force, Force versus Time of a moving object, Closing Time of Moving Parts, and in some applications Open Circuit Voltages and Short Circuit Currents.
Some of the FEA programs available from Ansoft for use in these consulting activities are: V13 Maxwell 2D and 3D, RMxprt, and the sophisticated circuit modeling program- Simplorer.
Maxwell is an advanced piece of software that allows users to model a device using DC, AC, or transient (with or without linear or rotational motion) solution capabilities. Maxwell has several more solution capabilities not listed here so please see the company web site at
www.ansoft.com.