Increasing Popularity of Electromagnetic Eddy Current Brake Over Frictional Brakes!

Presently, the necessity for travel is expanding, and with it, transportation alternatives are greener; less noisy; and, of course, faster. But anything that moves must eventually come to a stop, and while most cars, trains, and airplanes employ mechanical braking, doing so at high speeds can damage the vehicle and make it unsafe. Electromagnetic Eddy current brake differs from this. Here, we analyze the potential of frictionless braking and the phenomenon behind this effect.

Electromagnetic Eddy Current Brake in Real World  

One concept created and tested by a German railroad company places an eight-element linear array between the wheels, about 7 mm from the rail. Train operators can spin on these magnets when they like to slow down, which drives the magnets to develop a magnetic field that extends into the rail. Because the rail is fixed, it will undergo a concentrated magnetic field moving in at high velocity, and powerful eddy currents will create. As a result, these eddy currents of the rail resist the enforced transition in magnetic flux: they flow in a direction where the rail causes its magnetic field, which tries to expel the applied one. The magnetic fields repel each other, and a braking force results in the train reaching a frictionless stop.  

The benefits of frictionless braking are finely managed, relatively cheap, and free from noise & pollution. The issue with adopting this sort of braking is that the electromagnetic features periodically interrupt train signaling systems. Another restriction is that finite velocity is needed. And if there are a lot of trains braking snappily in a row in the same spot, the heat dissipated in the rails could grow them, leading to structural problems. Eddy current braking system has a lot to offer high-speed transportation.  

Linear Vs. Circular Eddy Current Brakes  

Generally, there are two types of eddy current brakes:  

• Linear   
• circular  

Linear brakes are in train and roller coaster rails, where the rail acts as part of the braking system. In roller coasters, magnets are positioned at the track's ends, and metal strips are tied to the car's sides. As soon as the car reaches the magnet, the brakes begin working because the magnet induces eddy currents in the metal. As an added safety measure, roller coasters typically use permanent magnets to keep the brakes engaged even in the power failure's case.   

A circular brake can have one component stationary and the other moving. In one version, the magnet is stationary while the metal disc rotates. In another version, the electromagnet moves. A coil is placed on a wheel that rotates around a fixed shaft. Circular eddy current brakes are useful, among other things, for industrial machine operation, especially for emergency stops. When you want to stop a factory machine or a power tool such as a circular saw, you can turn on the electromagnet to create eddy currents that bring the metal wheel mechanism to a sudden stop.  

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