Modeling of Spherical Magnet Arrays Using the Magnetic Charge Model

This paper presents an analytical method for evaluating the magnetic flux density produced by spherical permanent magnet arrays used in spherical actuators. To investigate the performances of magnetic arrays, analytical models are used due to their lower computational time compared to 3-D finite element analysis. This paper presents an analytical model for the calculation of the magnetic field produced by a spherical permanent magnet array using magnetic charge modeling. To obtain the total magnetic field solution, first the magnetic field produced by a single spherical tile is considered. By means of superposition, the magnetic field produced by the array is obtained. Two magnet array topologies are modeled and the analytical results are validated using finite element analysis.