Eddy current brake with two pole pairs

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to derive a force-velocity characteristic for an eddy current brake with minor computational effort.Design methodology approach - The speed range is split into two domains. While in the low-speed domain it is possible to achieve a closed form expression for the force-velocity characteristic in the high-speed region approximations have to be introduced.Findings - The derived relation for the force-velocity characteristic has been compared with measurement results. The comparison shows that the approach yields good results for not too large air gaps.Originality value - A combination of analytical and approximative methods has been used for the determination of the force-velocity characteristic of an eddy current brake with two pole pairs.