Magnetic circuit

A model that represents magnetic flux as flowing through paths with differing magnetic reluctance, analogous to electric current flowing through electrical resistance.

Magnetic flux: The measure of the total magnetic field passing through a specified surface. It is the quantity a magnetic circuit models as flowing through its paths.
Magnetic field: A physical field produced by magnets, electric currents, and changing electric fields that exerts magnetic forces. Magnetic circuits approximate how this field is distributed through chosen paths.
Transformer: An electrical device that transfers energy between circuits through electromagnetic induction. Its core and air gaps are designed by estimating flux and reluctance.
Maxwell's equations: A set of equations describing how electric and magnetic fields are generated and interact. They provide the broader field theory from which circuit approximations are drawn.
Magnetomotive force: The magnetic potential difference that drives magnetic flux around a magnetic circuit. It plays the driving role that electromotive force plays in an electrical circuit.
Magnetic flux density: Magnetic flux per unit area perpendicular to the field. It relates total circuit flux to the cross-sectional area of each path segment.
Inductor: A circuit component that stores energy in a magnetic field when current flows through it. Magnetic-circuit analysis estimates its core flux, inductance, and saturation limits.
Finite element method: A numerical method that approximates solutions to equations over subdivided regions of a domain. Magnetic finite-element models resolve field distributions that lumped reluctance networks simplify.
Magnetic reluctance: A measure of how strongly a magnetic path opposes the establishment of magnetic flux. It determines how much flux a path carries for a given magnetomotive force.
Electrical circuit: A network of conductive paths through which electric charge can flow. The magnetic-circuit analogy borrows its network structure while modeling field flux instead of charge.

Linked from 7 pages