Experimental Studies of Torque-Speed Characteristics of Eddy Current Brakes with Slotted Disk Rotor

Axial-flux eddy current brakes with a DC electromagnet excitation have been experimentally studied. A few conductive nonmagnetic disk rotors have been used with different number of radial slots. The method for torque and speed measuring is described. The experimental setup is developed. Finally, the torque-speed characteristics have been experimentally obtained for three disk rotors-a plain solid disk rotor without slots, a disk rotor with 6 slots and a disk rotor with 12 slots. The obtained experimental characteristics have confirmed theoretical results that the torque of a brake with a slotted disk rotor is more than the torque of a brake with a plain rotor. The torque rises on 10-20%; the damping ratio (or the torque-speed characteristic slope) increases by 3-10%.