Magnetic pressure and shape of ferrofluid seals in cylindrical structures

Abstract

This paper presents a three-dimensional analytical model for studying the shape and the pressure of ferrofluid seals in totally ironless structures. This three-dimensional analytical approach is based on the exact calculation of the magnetic field components created by ring permanent magnets whose polarizations are either radial or axial. We assume that the ferromagnetic particles of the ferrofluid are saturated. Moreover, the permanent magnets (neodymium iron boron) used in the considered applications create a magnetic field which is much higher than the magnetic field created by the magnetic particles in the ferrofluid so the latter is neglected. Nevertheless, the static behavior of the ferrofluid seal depends on both the magnetic field produced by the permanent magnets and the saturation magnetization of the ferrofluid particles. Furthermore, the accurate knowledge of the ferrofluid seal shape as well as the magnetic pressure inside the ferrofluid seal is very useful for the design of devices using both permanent magnets and ferrofluid seals. It is emphasized here that our structures are completely ironless and thus, there are no iron-base piston for these structures. Then, this paper makes a review of the main structures using ring permanent magnets and ferrofluid seals. For each ironless structure, the shape and the pressure of the ferrofluid seals are determined.