• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.179-201
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• 2019

Portable low-cost magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems have the potential to enable "point-of-care" and timely MRI diagnosis, and to make this imaging modality available to routine scans and to people in underdeveloped countries and areas. With simplicity, no maintenance, no power consumption, and low cost, permanent magnets/magnet arrays/magnet assemblies are attractive to be used as a source of static magnetic field to realize the portability and to lower the cost for an MRI scanner. However, when taking the canonical Fourier imaging approach and using linear gradient fields, homogeneous fields are required in a scanner, resulting in the facts that either a bulky magnet/magnet array is needed, or the imaging volume is too small to image an organ if the magnet/magnet array is scaled down to a portable size. Recently, with the progress on image reconstruction based on non-linear gradient field, static field patterns without spatial linearity can be used as spatial encoding magnetic fields (SEMs) to encode MRI signals for imaging. As a result, the requirements for the homogeneity of the static field can be relaxed, which allows permanent magnets/magnet arrays with reduced sizes, reduced weight to image a bigger volume covering organs such as a head. It offers opportunities of constructing a truly portable low-cost MRI scanner. For this exciting potential application, permanent magnets/magnet arrays have attracted increased attention recently. A magnet/magnet array is strongly associated with the imaging volume of an MRI scanner, image reconstruction methods, and RF excitation and RF coils, etc. through field patterns and field homogeneity. This paper offers a review of permanent magnets and magnet arrays of different kinds, especially those that can be used for spatial encoding towards the development of a portable and low-cost MRI system. It is aimed to familiarize the readers with relevant knowledge, literature, and the latest updates of the development on permanent magnets and magnet arrays for MRI. Perspectives on and challenges of using a permanent magnet/magnet array to supply a patterned static magnetic field, which does not have spatial linearity nor high field homogeneity, for image reconstruction in a portable setup are discussed.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.65-71
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• 2016

To increase the retaining force, a novel design for a concentric, bi-directional, electromagnetic valve actuator that contains double-layer permanent magnets is presented in this paper. To analyze the retaining-force change caused by the magnets, an equivalent magnetic circuit (EMC) model is established, while the EMC circuit of a double-layer permanent-magnet valve actuator (DLMVA) is also designed. Based on a 3D finite element method (FEM), the calculation model is built for the optimization of the key DLMVA parameters, and the valve-actuator optimization results are adopted for the improvement of the DLMVA design. A prototype actuator is manufactured, and the corresponding test results show that the actuator satisfies the requirements of a high retaining force under a volume limitation; furthermore, the design of the permanent magnets in the DLMVA allow for the attainment of both a high initial output force and a retaining force of more than 100 N.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.188-193
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• 2012

Permanent magnet is one of the most important parts in modern industry and the rare earth elements play an essential role for operation of permanent magnet. As is well known, the rare earth elements are mostly produced in China and the world is now facing serious problems owing to supply and demand imbalances. Many attempts have been performed to replace these rare-earth based permanent magnets by rare-earth free magnets, but they have not been successful so far. Regarding this issue, we discuss about an exchange spring magnet as a potential rare earth free permanent magnet structure.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.225-230
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• 2011

Magnetic materials has been applied to various fields due to their energy convertible properties between electrical and mechanical energy. Particularly, permanent magnets have been currently attracted much attention because they produce external magnetic field without any electrical current. For high efficiency, a demand for permanent magnets containing rare earth elements has been continuously increased, which abruptly raises the price and causes the supply difficulty of rare earth materials. Therefore, the development of permanent magnets with less or without rare earth elements become a urgent issue. In this report, the current trend and major issues on high efficiency permanent magnets, particularly exchange-coupling magnets, are discussed.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers B
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.143-151
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• 2004

High-speed permanent magnet machines are likely to be a key technology for electric drives and motion control systems for many applications, since they are conductive to high efficiency, high power density, small size and low weight. In high-speed machines, the permanent magnets are often contained within a retaining sleeve. However, the sleeve and the magnets are exposed to high order flux harmonics, which cause parasitic eddy current losses. Rotor losses of high-speed machines are of great importance especially in high-speed applications, because losses heat the rotor, which is often very compact construction and thereby difficult to cool. This causes a danger of demagnetization of the NdFeB permanent magnets. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the prediction of the rotor losses. This paper is concerned with the rotor losses in permanent magnet high-speed machines that are caused by permeance variation due to stator slotting. First, the flux harmonics are determined by double Fourier analysis of the normal flux density data over the rotor surface. And then, the rectilinear model was used to calculate rotor losses in permanent magnet machines. Finally, Poynting vector have been used to investigate the rotor eddy current losses of high-speed Permanent magnet machine.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.227-233
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• 2015

We present a method, supported by theoretical analysis, for optimizing the usage of the critical rare earth element dysprosium in $Nd_2Fe_{14}B$ (NdFeB)-based permanent magnets. In this method, we use Dy selectively in locations such as magnet edges and faces, where demagnetization factors are largest, rather than uniformly throughout the bulk sample. A200 nm thick Dy film was sputtered onto a commercial N-38, NdFeB magnets with a thickness of 3 mm and post-annealed at temperatures from $600-700^{\circ}C$. Magnets displayed enhanced coercivities after post-annealing and as much as a 5 % increase in the energy product, while requiring a total Dy content of 0.06 wt. % - a small fraction of that used in the commercial grade Dy-NdFeB magnets. By assuming all Dy diffused into NdFeB magnets, the improvement in energy product corresponds to a saving of over 1% Dy (critical element). Magnets manufactured using this technique will therefore be higher performing which would potentially broaden the application space of these magnets in the traction motors of hybrid and pure electric vehicles, and wind generators.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.364-373
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• 2016

The article presents the results and findings obtained through the assembly of opposing linear Halbach arrays from two magnet layers using large magnetic blocks from permanent NdFeB magnets, especially concerning the distribution of magnetic induction in an air gap. The use of these large blocks has led to a significant expansion of the area of magnetic field with a substantially higher value of magnetic induction in comparison with similar linear Halbach arrays composed of small magnets. The paper also discusses the determined dependences of magnetic induction on the parameters of the x, y, z coordinate system and indicates the possibilities of achieving an even stronger magnetic field in a larger volume of an air gap for application for instance in equipment for magnetic separation of raw materials, in instrument technologies and in other areas.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.405-412
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• 2015

In this study, we describe the effects of changing the magnet shape of permanent magnets (PMs) in a rotor Halbach-array PM generator for reciprocating free piston generator applications. More specifically, the rectangular-shaped magnets were replaced by the trapezoidal-shaped magnets. The initial design, an analytical magnetic field solution of rectangular shaped magnets, is presented and air-gap magnetic flux density and thrust force were estimated. The results were compared to the finite element analysis (FEA) showing excellent agreement. Using FEA, the effect of the shape of the magnets on the flux density and thrust force waveforms is analyzed. Moreover, the proportion of the Halbach array in the machine was optimized by the means of a parametric search. The results obtained from the analytical calculations and FEA were validated by comparing to those of Radial-array PM generator.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 1997

The semisolid processing of two Al-Si alloys, A356 and Al-25wt%Si, was studied with using the rotor composed of permanent magnets. The semisolid slurry was agitated by the electromagnetic force induced from the rotating permant magnets. The round shaped primary ${\alpha}$ phases were formed in A356 alloy as a result of agitation. In Al25wt%Si alloy, spherodization of primary Si particles was not observed with the rotation of the magnets. The primary Si particles were segregated to the outer surface area of sample, which became pronounced with increasing the rotating speed of magnets.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.70-75
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• 2014

Permanent magnets have recently been considered as device that can be used to control the behavior of mechanical systems. Neodymium magnets, a type of permanent magnet, have been used in numerous mechanical devices. These are permanent magnets made from an alloy of neodymium, iron, and boron to form the Nd2Fe14B tetragonal crystalline structure. The magnetic selection, magnet core design and mechanical errors of the magnetic component can affect the performance of the magnetic force. In this study, the coercive force, residual induction, and the dimensions of the design parameters of the magnet core are optimized. The design parameters of magnet core are defined as the gap between the magnet and the core, the upper contact radius, and the lower thickness of the core. The force exercised on a permanent magnet in a non-uniform field is dependent on the magnetization orientation of the magnet. Non-uniformity of the polarization direction of the magnetic has been assumed to be caused by the angular error in the polarization direction. The variation in the magnetic performance is considered according to the center distance, the tilt of the magnetic components, and the polarization direction. The finite element method is used to analyze the magnetic force of an optimized cylindrical magnet.