Consumer & Appliance

Market Segment Discussion

 Consumer and appliance devices which use magnetic materials are shown below. This list demonstrates that magnetic materials contribute greatly to modern lifestyles. 

 Appliances (kitchen, bath and laundry) 

•  Washers and dryer drive motors 
•  Handheld appliances - hair dryers, food mixers 
•  Microwave oven energy distribution fans, power supply components 
•  Refrigerator / freezer compressor pump motors 

 Consumer Electronics 

•  Electronics power supply transformers, chokes and inductors 
•  CD spindle and head positioning motors 
•  TV CRT focusing yoke and tab magnets 
•  VCR tape drive motors 

 HVAC 

•  Air blower motors 
•  Compressor pump motors 
•  HW baseboard heat water recirculating pump motors 
•  Room cooling fan motors 

 Workshop Appliances 

•  Magnetic retrieval tools 
•  Magnetic bit holders 
•  Power tool drive motors 
•  Welder power supply transformer 

 Miscellaneous 

•  Air compressor pump motors 
•  Car battery charger power supply components 
•  Electric lawn mower drive motors 
•  Fluorescent lighting ballasts 
•  Well pump motors
   

 There are many types of motors. Some use the interaction of two sets of current carrying coils to produce rotational torque. Other motors use the interaction between coils and the magnetic field from permanent magnets. The second kind of motor, called a permanent magnet motor, is widely used where size and weight must be minimized or when batteries are supplying the power. 

 Almost all motors use "soft" magnetic materials to carry magnetic flux and to distribute it where needed in the motor. These "electrical steels" are used for the motor casing and for the laminations within the motor. Low rpm, commodity motors use low carbon steel. High rpm, high output and specialty motors make use of high saturation steels such as Arnold's ARNON? 5 and 7.
 

Applications Engineering

   Whether your company has sophisticated in-house magnetics design capabilities or a more modest facility, our Applications Engineers are ready to support your efforts through the entire product life cycle including: 

•  Conceptualization 
•  Initial design 
•  Prototyping 
•  Design optimization 
•  Pre-Production trials 
•  Validation testing support 
•  Production issues 
•  Cost reduction activities 
•  Next generation designs 

 Additional capabilities: 

•  Magnetic field mapping 
•  Magnetic properties testing 

Design Assistance

 Applications engineers at each of our manufacturing locations can assist you with your needs, such as. 

•  Magnetic modeling: 2D, Radially symmetric, 3D, Temperature dependence  
•  Design relationships to your Hall sensor and application Specifications
  Complete analysis includes studying the effects of the operate and release point of the Hall sensors compard to the magnetic output waveform
  •  Quadrature encoders  
  •  Switches and latches  
  •  Ratiometric / Linear Halls  
  •  Pulse counters  
    
•  Complex holding force calculations  
•  Insert and overmolding designs  
•  Manufacturability analysis  
•  Measurement capability to verify design  

Application Examples

 Micromotors use a variety of magnet solutions. One common type is hard ferrite arc magnets. These are glued or clamped inside the motor shell as in the example shown here. 

 These motors are used in a wide range of consumer electronics devices as well as small appliances for cooling fans, drive motors for tape recorders and VCRs, etc. 

 Small fan motors often use flexible ferrite magnet material which is pressed into the motor can and magnetized. Assembly is automated and extremely fast. 

 Fan motors are used "by the millions" to cool computers and industrial electronics. they are also used to cool power supplies in consumer appliances such as microwave ovens.