Discretely structured magnetic flux concentrators

TL;DR

This paper explores discretely structured magnetic flux concentrators (MFCs) that can match the performance of solid MFCs while significantly reducing material use, offering benefits for lightweight and cost-sensitive applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates the feasibility of discretized MFCs through simulations, showing they can achieve comparable performance with much less material, especially in 3D structures.

Findings

Discretized MFCs perform comparably to solid ones in flux concentration.

Material usage can be reduced by up to two orders of magnitude with discretization.

Discretization offers weight and cost advantages for practical applications.

Abstract

Conventional magnetic flux concentrators (MFCs) are typically designed with solid structures, which may not be optimal for applications requiring lightweight design or material efficiency. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of spatially discretized MFCs in guiding and concentrating magnetic flux, through finite element simulations. Our results demonstrate that discretely structured MFCs can achieve performance comparable to that of solid counterparts while significantly reducing material usage. For instance, even with a non-optimized discretized design, discretization along a single dimension can reduce material usage by an order of magnitude. Moreover, for three-dimensional structural devices, discretization along two dimensions has the potential to reduce material consumption by two orders of magnitude. This may offer a notable advantage in applications where weight reduction and cost efficiency are of primary concern.