Rare-earth permanent magnet lifting system for heavy loads

A permanent magnet lifting system has been designed by use of rare-earth neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB)permanent magnets together with an efficient soft magnetic material framework to provide an optimal lifting system. A hydraulic pick'n release mechanism is used for picking and releasing loads, and by the same mechanism the lifting force can also be selected. The system described here is intended to lift loads with a surface roughness of up to 3 mm and can operate at a maximum continuous temperature of 120/spl deg/C.