Magnetically Coupled Circuits: Moving Coils

A. Delgado
National University of Colombia at Bogota
Email: adelgado@ieee.org

Abstract The main motivation for this paper is to explore,

using circuit theory and simulations, magnetically coupled II. ELLIPTICAL TWO COILS SYSTEM
circuits with moving coils; in the first example there are two
coils, one that creates a static magnetic field and the second Figure 1 is an elliptical system with two coils, at the focus
following an elliptical path causing a time dependent coupling there is a static coil. The second coil is moving along an
coefficient. The second case involves three coils, one moving,
elliptical path with distance r(t) and eccentricity ,
two static and each one generating a constant magnetic field.

I. INTRODUCTION 1
1 .

M agnetically coupled circuits, in traditional circuit

theory textbooks [1-2], are usually described assuming
constant coupling coefficients, i.e., time invariant
inductances with fixed (static) coils.
On the other hand, lately there has been an increasing
interest in quantum computing for optimization problems
using magnetic fields, this application requires time variant
inductances [3-4].
To study magnetically coupled circuits with moving coils,
two cases are presented. In the first example, a time Fig.1. Two coils, one static and the other following an elliptical path r(t)
with eccentricity .
dependent coupling coefficient k(t) is introduced between
two coils due to the elliptical movement of one of them. The
Figure 2 shows the two circuits in detail, notice that
goal is to study the behavior of the induced current in the
resistances are zero, around L11 there is a constant magnetic
moving coil with elliptical dynamics and different
field produced by the current x1(t) = I0.The mutual
eccentricity values . An expected result is the following, the
inductance L12(t) = L21(t) is time varying due to the elliptical
induced current x2(t) is proportional to the coupling
trajectory, self-inductances are constant.
coefficient k(t), that is, the induced steady state current x2(t)
has the same relationship with the distance r(t) to the focus
of the ellipse as the coupling coefficient k(t). Also, the time
derivative of the induced current is proportional to the
ellipse eccentricity , zero eccentricity means constant
current, x2(t) = x2(0).
In the second example, a coil L11 is moving in the
neighborhood of two coils and each one (L22, L33) is
generating a constant magnetic field. The resulting current
x1(t) is calculated, also a condition is formulated to have a
constant value x1(t) = x1(0) for a general problem of n coils.
The paper is organized as follows: section two presents the
mathematical formulation for the two coils system with a Fig.2. Magnetically coupled circuits with two coils (inductance L, current
moving coil in elliptical trajectory. Section three illustrates x); when the current enters a dot, the induced voltage is positive at
the formulas with simulations under different conditions for the other dot.
the eccentricity and the parameter in the coupling
coefficient k(t) = f(r(t)-). Section four presents the general Mutual inductances follow the equation,
case of a coil moving inside the field generated by n-1 coils.
Section five is a simulation of three coils, with one moving 2
and two static. Finally, in section six conclusions are
formulated. The coupling coefficient is defined here as,
978-1-4799-7806-9/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE
1
 0 remaining parameters are: a = 1.0, = 1 r/s, x1 = I0 = 1.0 A,
3 x2(0) = 0.0 A, L11 = 1.0 H, L22 = 0.01 H.

A. Case 1: = 0.9, = 3
0 1

The mesh equation for the second coil,

. 0 4

Replacing the mutual inductance (2) in (4),

Solving for the induced current x2(t),

Fig.3. Coupling coefficient, = 0.9, = 3.

Integrating with non - zero initial condition x2(0),

0 1 5
0

Now solving for the time derivative of the induced current,

0 0
.

Some algebraic simplifications,

Fig.4. Phase plane, current vs time derivative, = 0.9, = 3.

0 B. Case 2: = 0.1, = 3
. .

Finally,

6

When = 0, k(t) = k(0), the current (5) is constant and equal

to the initial condition, x2(t) = x2(0).

III. SIMULATIONS: TWO COILS Fig.5. Coupling coefficient, = 0.1, = 3.

In this section, some simulations for different (, ) illustrate

the mathematical formulation. Numerical values for the

2
 Taking the time derivative,

Yields the condition for constant current,

V. SIMULATIONS: THREE COILS

Figure 8 shows the system with three coils, one moving and
Fig.6. Phase plane, current vs time derivative, = 0.1, = 3.
two static. In this case,

The time derivative of the current is proportional to 10

the eccentricity (6); appears both in x2(t) and its derivative
.
11
IV. MULTIPLE COILS

Now consider the system in figure 7, the current x1(t) is The distance from coil Ljj to L11,
induced by n-1 coils due to the changing distance dj(t),
12
0 7
. cos ; . sin
Where,
Time derivative for the coupling coefficient,

13
,0 1

Fig.7. Coil L11 is moving in the neighborhood of n-1 static coils, each one is
generating a constant magnetic field. The mutual inductance L1j is a
function of distance dj and it is changing with time. Fig.8. Three coils: One moving (L11) and two static (L22, L33), constant
currents x2(t) = I2, x3(t) = I3.
Solving (7) for the current,
0 Simulation parameters: L11 = 0.5 H, L22 = 1.0 H, L33 = 1.0 H,
0 1 8 I2 = 1.0, I3 = 1.0, = 1.0, = 1.0, a2 = 2.5, b2 = 0.0, c2 = 1.0,
0
a3 = 0.0, b3 = 2.5, c3 = 1.0.

3
 A. Case 1: = 3

Fig.12. Phase plane, current vs time derivative, = 0.5.

Fig.9. Coupling coefficients, L22: (2.5, 0), L33: (0, 2.5), = 3.
The phase plane for current x1(t) is quite sensitive to
parameter , see figures 10 and 12 for = 3 and = 0.5,
respectively.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
The study of magnetically coupled circuits with moving
coils is an important complement to traditional textbook
examples in circuit theory. The topic is interesting and useful
now that new engineering applications require time variant
mutual inductances [3-4]. Another possibility of this type of
analysis is the relationship between magnetically coupled
circuits and gravitationally coupled systems, i.e., analogous
electrical and mechanical systems.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author thanks the support of his employer, the
Fig.10. Phase plane, current vs time derivative, = 3. National University of Colombia at Bogota.

B. Case 2: = 0.5 REFERENCES

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Fig.11. Phase plane, current vs time derivative, = 0.5.