The Modeling of Magnetic Fields in Electromagnetic Microgenerators Using the Finite Element Method

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the magnetic field distribution over a disc with magnets. This disk is part of an electromagnetic microgenerator that allows the generation of electricity as a result of changes in the magnetic field. The other part of the microgenerator is the structure of the coils. In the previous work of the authors, a complete microgenerator system was presented where the coils were made using thick-film and low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology. Several studies related to the influence of the shape and number of coils on the generated power were carried out, as well as the realization of complete electromagnetic microgenerators with voltage rectifying circuits. Until now, a disc with 28 neodymium magnets of size 10 × 3 × 1.5 mm3 was used for testing. In order to optimize the structure of the microgenerator with respect to the disc with magnets and thus increase the generated power, it was decided to perform appropriate tests to analyze the magnetic field distribution for several configurations of the disc varying in the shape and the dimensions of the magnets. Simulations were performed in COMSOL Multiphysics using the finite element method.