Step-by-Step Guide: Designing an E-Shaped Electromagnet for a Magnetic Levitator

[Heero2100]

Hi guys and gals

Long story short I'm trying to make an magnetic levitator (like you can see on youtube), basically a floating metal ball, this will be part of a project I'm doing but the issue is I have absolutely no idea how to go about designing a electromagnet from scratch (which is a requirement for this).

My only constraints are:

E shaped core
Soft Steel core (EN1A to be precise)
Lift weight of 500 grams about 2 inches from ground (and maintain it about 2 inches from the magnet)

for me its just too many variables and I keep getting confused and stressed! Some simliar examples would be awesome or as close to a step by step design approach as possible would be a god send.

I should point out this is a small part of a project, the majority is designing the rest of the circuit and using a arduino board to control the feedback loop, its just I've wasted so much time on magnet design and still have no clue so starting to worry about time constraint.

Thanks for any help

 

[anorlunda]

Yes, it is difficult to do by hand. Why not use one of the online calculators to assist you. For example this:https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/solenoid-magnetic-field