A practical demonstration of electromagnetic braking

The topic of electromagnetics is of fundamental importance to electrical power engineering education. Graduates of electrical engineering, particularly those who specialise in electrical power engineering are expected to develop an adequate understanding of electromagnetic principles. These principles form the basis for analysis and design of equipment such as electromechanical energy conversion equipment, transformers and transmission lines. It is normally accepted that electromagnetics should be a core component of any electrical engineering curriculum. Also students' interest and understanding is greatly enhanced by complementing theoretical course content with well designed practical experiments. This paper describes an experiment which demonstrates the principles behind electromagnetic braking. It has the advantages of cost effectiveness and safety. Students can perform the experiment with minimum or no supervision, making it suitable for teaching electromagnetics in distance mode. Additionally the experiment can be performed at introductory or at advanced level. The paper demonstrates that even at introductory level it is possible for students to offer qualitative but still satisfying explanations for their experimental observations. At advanced level, students can take the opportunity to develop explanations based on electromagnetic laws and numerical analysis using finite element (FEA) or other techniques.