Analytical Models and Magnetic Position Systems

Abstract

In this work, we promote the use of analytical solutions for magnetic position system design and analysis, which has become extremely convenient through the development of the open-source Magpylib computational package. We discard three common arguments against this ansatz by showing that analytical models are suitable for dealing with complex shapes, inhomogeneous magnetizations and even material interactions. Accuracy of analytical models is discussed, and the computational performance is demonstrated with three examples, a complex shape, an inhomogeneous magnet, and the calibration of a position system experiment. We find that analytical models can be powerful tools in this context.