Analysis and Optimization of a Device Intended to Reproduce a Magnetic Field Along a Path

The paper shows a generalization and further development of a previous work of ours already published. We describe and analyze a kind of devices intended to create a prescribed magnetic field using a set of conductors. More precisely, we discuss a device that is capable of shaping the tangential component of the magnetic field along a specific path by controlling the current applied to each conductor. An orthogonal function decomposition is used to determine the magnitude of each current. The system performance depends on the number of conductors and their location, so we introduce a set of quality parameters, and some common geometries are evaluated upon them. These devices are intended for calibration purposes of current measuring instruments based on Ampere's integral, although the metrological aspects are out of the scope of this paper.