Home >> Science & Nature >> Science

DIY Make-Your-Own High Voltage Electromagnets

Magnetic materials are important in modern-day technologies and are used in loudspeakers, transformers and computer hard drives. An electromagnet consists of a ferromagnetic core such as iron, surrounded by coils of electrically conductive wire. When current passes through the wire, a magnetic field is generated in a direction normal to the current direction. High voltage electromagnets can be built using a block of iron, a reel of copper wire and a high voltage direct current (DC) power supply.

Things You'll Need

Reel of copper wire
Block of iron
High voltage DC power supply
Electric saw
Plastic tubing

Instructions

- 1
  Choose the dimensions of the electromagnet. This will often depend on the application and space constraints. Generally speaking, the larger the volume iron, the larger the produced magnetic field. If necessary, cut the block of iron to the desired size using an electric saw.
- 2
  Coil the magnetic material. The greater the number of turns on the electromagnet, the more field will be produced for a given value of current. There are many ways to coil the electromagnet. One of the simplest is to place the iron into a vice and wrap the wire around the magnetic material manually. Remember to leave sufficient length of wire on each side of the coil for connection to the power supply. When current flows though the wire, it will generate a lot of heat. To remove the heat, the electromagnet should be water-cooled. Every 100 turns of copper, wrap some of the plastic tubing around the coil. Leave plenty of length on the plastic tubing for connection to the water mains.
- 3
  Connect the plastic tubing to the water mains. Switch on the water and ensure there are no leaks.
- 4
  Connect the two sides of the wire to the DC power supply. Switch on the DC power supply, and select the desired voltage and current to generate a magnetic field.

Science