A New Model of Electromechanical Relays for Predicting the Motion and Electromagnetic Dynamics

In this paper, a novel multiphysics and nonlinear model for electromechanical relays is presented. The electromagnetic dynamics is analyzed by calculating the total reluctance of the magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC), which is composed of a fixed length iron core and an angular air gap. Magnetic saturation and angular dependency of the reluctance are considered in the analysis. Then, an energy balance over the electromagnetic components of the system is used to obtain the torque which drives the movable armature. A planar mechanism of four rigid bodies, including spring-damping torques that restrict the motion and model the contact bounces that occur in the switchings, is proposed to explain the dynamics of the movable components. Experimental tests show the accuracy of the model in both the electromagnetic and the mechanical parts.