Magnets as a heat source?

[therockinks]

Neodymium permanent magnets are new to me being in the hvac field
I have watched several utube videos on Hugh Piggots diy wind generators
Can anyone with neo magnet expertise tell me if magnets spinning
against magnets similar to Hugh Piggots axial flux wind generators
could be used to generate heat without electrical windings and just
create heat
I know the are maximum temperatures the magnets will allow before
losing their field strength
I don't know if this could be referred to as an eddy current
heater with just magnets passing other magnets
and I don't know the max useful air temp you could extract
to use a heat source for a furnace
Are there any research projects already being done or links available
where I could learn more about heating with magnets
Thanks in advance
John Roberson

 

[asimpson]

Magnets against magnets wouldn't produce much heat. There would be cycling attraction/repulsion.

If the moving magnetic field cuts a stationery conductor like a block of aluminium there will be eddy currents in the block and this will generate heat in the block. This is the principal of the eddy-current brake. This generates heat which has to be taken away by cooling system, usually fins.

I never heard of this principal being uses as a source of heat. I am sure it is possible. For very high temperatures the magnetic field has to change rapidly and must be concentrated. If a changing field similar to an induction heater were achieved very high temperatures would be possible.

As to the efficiency of such a system I have no idea.

 

[IRstuff]

Induction cooktops have been around for quite a while:

http://www.sunpentown.com/inco.html

However, the degree of heating is roughly proportional to the frequency of the magnetic field changes, so you'd be burning truckloads of mechanical energy for very little thermal gain using moving magnets.

TTFN

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