Design Optimization of Permanent Magnet Actuator Using Multi-Phase Level-Set Model

In this paper, a new approach to achieve the optimal design of a permanent magnetic actuator for maximizing the magnetic performance is presented. To consider three different materials such as permanent magnet, ferromagnetic material and air in design domain, the multi-phase level-set model representing two level set functions is employed. Each material's property is calculated in terms of relative magnetic reluctivity and remanent flux density for magnetostatic analysis. The optimization problem is formulated by the objective function for satisfying all of actuating conditions and the volume constraints of each material. Two level-set functions are updated with the time evolutional equation and the respective design sensitivities until the convergence conditions are satisfied. The structural design example of a permanent magnet actuator for a vacuum circuit breaker is performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented method and an optimal configuration is obtained.This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology(No. 2009-0077590)