When you watch a lifting magnet work, it appears so effortless that it's easy to be fooled into thinking they are very simple devices. Look closer, and you'll find that lifting magnets are surprisingly sophisticated devices.
All industrial lifting magnets are electromagnets. From the outside, you see only a heavy cast or machined steel casing and a cover plate. Inside is a carefully fabricated winding of aluminum or copper electrical conductor. Each layer of the winding is separated by a thin layer of insulation. The inside of the casing is also coated with insulation. The cover plate is a sheet of manganese, providing an extremely hard, non-magnetic protective shield for the coils. The final component is a cable carrying 230 volts of DC current.
The science of magnetics is based on the how these components are designed to balance the high levels of electrical energy and magnetism that flow through them. Magnet performance is affected by the size and density of the coil, the number of windings, the integrity of the electrical current and by the effects of heat, moisture and internal damage. |
