I'm making an electromagnet- trying to maximize its lifting force.
After working with some units with my physics prof, we determined that the length of the wire eventually gets cancelled out, meaning that the less resistance, the less complications. We determined it would then be best to use large wire, large currents, and as many turns as I can muster without putting too much concern into it.
The construction will be on the order of using 60A of direct current through the windings.
Now, as for the core, I can't seem to find any soft iron rods that get any wider than about 1 cm. I would like to wrap my large wire around something wider than 1 cm, so I figure that I'll just couple ten of these rods with each other, and wrap the coil around the assembly.
Here's the question: Would it be better to use 7mm wide rods- allowing for less air space between rods, and making the core more "dense"?
Or would it be better to go with 10mm rods for an overall wider core, but with overall larger air gaps between rods?
This is for a levitation assembly, so I think that a smaller- diameter core would keep the levitating object more "centered", but will I lose lifting force?
Thanks for the advice!
After working with some units with my physics prof, we determined that the length of the wire eventually gets cancelled out, meaning that the less resistance, the less complications. We determined it would then be best to use large wire, large currents, and as many turns as I can muster without putting too much concern into it.
The construction will be on the order of using 60A of direct current through the windings.
Now, as for the core, I can't seem to find any soft iron rods that get any wider than about 1 cm. I would like to wrap my large wire around something wider than 1 cm, so I figure that I'll just couple ten of these rods with each other, and wrap the coil around the assembly.
Here's the question: Would it be better to use 7mm wide rods- allowing for less air space between rods, and making the core more "dense"?
Or would it be better to go with 10mm rods for an overall wider core, but with overall larger air gaps between rods?
This is for a levitation assembly, so I think that a smaller- diameter core would keep the levitating object more "centered", but will I lose lifting force?
Thanks for the advice!