Custom Magnet and Magnetic Assembly Engineering and Design

When you combine HSMAG’s accumulated knowledge and experience combined with new innovations and technology you get the best magnet and magnetic assembly design and engineering assistance in the marketplace.  HSMAG utilizes 2D and 3D magnetic simulation packages to design engineered-to-order magnetic assemblies and magnet solutions for a wide range of applications, including:
•Medical Devices and Equipment
•Aerospace and Defense Programs
•Sensor triggering
•Thin Film Deposition and Magnetic Annealing
•Metal working
•Fixturing and Work-holding
•Electro Mechanical Devices
•Various Holding applications
•Various Material Handling Devices
•Toque and Linear Couplers

Commitment to Technology and Design for Manufacturability

The professionals at HSMAG understand that our customers are not always certain about the existence or feasibility of a magnetic solution. To that end, HSMAG leverages its technical assets, including computer simulations with 2D and 3D FEA and Boundary analysis software to validate design concepts, thereby reducing product development time and expense, and ensuring manufacturability of the finished product.  By utilizing simulation software, a tentative solution can be generated, forwarded, and discussed with your design team. After preliminary models are reviewed, an informed decision can then be made on how or whether to proceed.

Reverse Engineering
HSMAG’s industry expertise and in-house capabilities allows us to reverse engineer an existing magnet or magnetic assembly to improve performance, enhance service life, quantify and qualify older designs, and reduce costs.   These capabilities include:
•Vast accumulated knowledge base
•Hysterisigraph used to quantify the magnetic characteristics of the magnet
•Simulation Software
•Performance benchmarking of the application
•Chemical analyses

Design Pitfalls
During the design phase of your project, it is important to consider the complexities associated with designing with magnetic materials.  Not only is the magnetic performance of the magnet important, but also how the magnet will be integrated into the final solution.

Magnetic materials, unlike common commercial materials that have ASTM classifications, are difficult to manufacture and to fabricate and present a special set of challenges.  Therefore, it becomes incumbent upon the design team to take special care when creating a custom solution for your application.  Common design challenges with Magnetic Materials:
•Are typically environmentally unstable (Highly reactive and prone to oxidation).  Common coating and plating solutions usually do not translate to magnetic alloy.
•Will gain or lose magnetic field relative to the operational temperature fluctuations necessitating the need to design for magnetic performance through a temperature spectrum.
•Can experience irreparable harm at extreme temperature exposures.  This harm is irrecoverable and represents an effective partial or total demagnetization of the magnet.
•Challenging to fabricate because conventional machine tools and machining methods are not feasible.
•Challenging to design because the magnetic field density and resulting force are not linear relative to distance.
•Magnetic fields can create hazards for personal and some electronic equipment.
•Common methods of component integration and retention such as; tapped holes, shoulders, through holes, staking, and tapers are expensive to employ.  The integration of a magnet into a sub-assembly requires a functional knowledge base when designing an integration scheme.
•Are MAGNETIZED.  This seems obvious, but magnetized magnets and sub-assemblies present a unique set handling and integration problems.  The issue can range from protecting the operators to demagnetizing of the magnet itself.  This aspect must be accounted for early in the design phase.

Commonly requested specifications attributed to conventional materials, such as aluminum, steel alloys, plastic, etc., are usually challenging to implement with magnets and magnetic materials.  These specifications, usually indicated on a drawing by default, may add cost and complexity when manufacturing a magnet or magnetic assembly.  It is important to review the relevance of these industry standard features and specifications when designing and specifying a magnet or magnetic assembly.