Magnets are an important part of our daily lives, serving as essential components in everything from electric motors, loudspeakers, computers, compact disc players, microwave ovens and the family car, to instrumentation, production equipment, and research. Their contribution is often overlooked because they are built into devices and are usually out of sight.
Magnets function as transducers, transforming energy from one form to another, without any permanent loss of their own energy. General categories of permanent magnet functions are:
Mechanical to mechanical - attraction and repulsion. Examples of applications that utilize this are magnetic separators, holding devices, magnetic torque drivers and magnetic bearings.
Mechanical to electrical - the conversion of motion to electrical energy. Example applications are generators, magnetos, and microphones.
Electrical to mechanical - the conversion of electrical energy to motion. Example applications are motors, meters, relays, actuators, loudspeakers, and charged particle deflection, traveling wave tubes, ion pumps, and cyclotrons.
Mechanical to heat - the conversion of motion to heat energy. Example applications are eddy current heaters.
Special effects - such as magneto resistance, Hall effect devices, and magnetic resonance.
The following sections will provide a brief insight into the design and application of permanent magnets. The Design Engineering team at HSMAG Magnetics will be happy to assist you further in your applications.
