A Comparative Study of Foucault Brake System to Consider the Effect of Disc Shape and Material for Increasing Eddy Current Loss and Braking Torque

This paper introduces some effective methods for increasing the braking torque in a Foucault brake system. Eddy currents and their role in Foucault disc brakes has been investigated. The objective is to modeling, estimate, control and increase the torque of Foucault brake system. In order to increase the braking torque in the eddy current braking system, the Foucault losses on the disc must be increased. As eddy current or resistance in the rotating disc increases, so do Foucault losses and thus braking torque. Modeling and estimation of the torque of Foucault braking system has been done using two methods. In the first method, Foucault brake torque modeling is done using the analytical relations of electromagnetics and electric machines. Torque modeling has been applied using Maxwell software considered in the second method. In order to increase the braking torque, two methods of changing the material and reshaping the disc have been proposed and investigated. In the first part, the study of eddy current and its effect has been discussed. The second part presented Foucault load modeling and estimation of torque. Maxwell’s model for Foucault brake disc with different materials and proposed shapes for the disc is comprised in the final section.