1. Catalogs
  2. ERIEZ
  3. How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets

How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets

How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets
1 / 20 PagesView full catalog

How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets

Product catalog summary
Introduction
Lifting magnets are crucial for handling steel plates and shapes, requiring careful selection based on specific application needs. This guide outlines the factors influencing the choice and use of lifting magnets.
Construction of Lifting Magnets
Lifting magnets come in round and rectangular shapes, each with unique construction features. Round magnets have a center pole for efficient face area utilization, while rectangular magnets may have two or three-pole circuits. Both types can be permanent or electro, constructed from materials like hot rolled steel.
Weight, Shape, and Area of Load
The selection of lifting magnets is influenced by the weight, shape, and contact area of the load. Smaller contact areas require magnets with deeper penetration fields, whereas larger areas can utilize multiple smaller magnets.
Surface Condition of Load and Magnet
Optimal lifting power requires smooth and clean surfaces on both the magnet and load to minimize air gaps, which reduce magnetic pull.
Stiffness or Flexibility of Load
Load stiffness affects magnet placement. Flexible loads may need strategic magnet positioning to prevent peeling effects and ensure balanced lifting.
Sizes and Shapes to be Lifted
Lifting systems must accommodate various load sizes and shapes. Magnet arrangements should be designed for the largest expected load, with controls to deactivate overhanging magnets when necessary.
Varying Load Sizes and Shapes
For systems handling diverse load sizes, balancing magnet capacity with economic considerations is crucial. Systems can be designed for common loads, with alternative methods for handling rare, larger loads.
Conclusion
Choosing the right lifting magnet involves understanding specific application requirements, including load characteristics and operational conditions, ensuring efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness.
Specifications and Breakaway Force
The breakaway force of a lifting magnet is influenced by the material thickness. It increases with thickness until saturation is reached. Thinner materials yield lower forces, while thicker materials do not increase force beyond saturation.
Partial Magnet Face Use
Uneven load surfaces reduce effective lifting power. The lifting power depends on the contact area percentage and the quality of the magnetic circuit path. For irregular loads, a 3D finite element magnetic field analysis or comparative pull tests may be necessary.
Safety Features
Special safety features include permanent magnets with electromagnetic load canceling, permanent turn-off magnets, and electromagnets with auxiliary power supplies, ensuring load retention during power failures.
Safety Factor
The ultimate lift strength of magnets is rated under ideal conditions. A safety factor must be applied to account for various operating conditions, ensuring the magnet's capacity meets actual conditions.
Number of Lift Magnets
Multiple magnets are necessary for large plates and sheets to distribute the load evenly. Proper alignment and attachment are crucial to prevent magnets from losing contact during lifts.
Lifting Loads with Undefined Shapes
Lift magnets are typically designed for standard shapes. For unusual shapes, auxiliary pole plates can be used to match the load shape and maintain lifting efficiency.
Auxiliary Pole Plates
These plates match load shapes more closely, ensuring efficient handling and are beneficial for handling hot materials by spacing the coil from heat sources.
Drop Controllers
These devices apply reverse current to cancel residual magnetic lines, allowing faster load release.
Specifications and Procedures
The document discusses the use of rectangular lift magnets for handling coils with varying inner and outer diameters. The number of magnets is determined by the clear spaces between banding straps, as resting on a band reduces lift capacity.
Application Examples
Examples include lifting plates ranging from one to four feet wide and four to eight feet long. Small magnets arranged in banks are preferred over large magnets, allowing selective lifting of individual plates.
Product Information
Eriez Magnetics offers a wide range of magnetic components and systems for automation, material movement, separation, purification, and more.
Contact Information
Eriez Magnetics has manufacturing plants on five continents and provides contact details for their offices worldwide.
Company Overview
Eriez is a world authority in advanced technology for magnetic, vibratory, and metal detection applications, serving various industries.
See more

Catalog excerpts

How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets-1

MB-2380 E Ask Orange > TM Provides solutionsto process problems How ToComplete guide toLifting Magnets > World authority in advancedtechnology for magnetic, vibratoryand metal detection applications. size="-3">

 Open the catalog to page 1
How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets-2

Page 1.INTRODUCTION 2.CONSTRUCTION OF LIFTING MAGNETS 3.WEIGHT, SHAPE AND AREA OF LOAD 4.SURFACE CONDITION OF LOAD AND MAGNET 5.STIFFNESS OR FLEXIBILITY OF LOAD 6.SIZES AND SHAPES TO BE LIFTED 7.VARYING LOAD SIZES AND SHAPES 8.PARTIAL MAGNET FACE USE FOR LIFT 9.LIFTING MAGNETS WITH SPECIAL SAFETY FEATURES 10.SAFETY FACTOR 11.NUMBER OF LIFT MAGNETS FOR MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY 12.LIFTING LOADS WITH UNDEFINED SHAPES 13.AUXILIARY POLE PLATES 14.DROP CONTROLLERS 15.TYPICAL APPLICATION EXAMPLES - AUXILIARY POLES 16.TYPICAL APPLICATION EXAMPLES - LIFTING COILS 17.TYPICAL APPLICATION EXAMPLES - LIFTING PLATES...

 Open the catalog to page 2
How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets-3

Lifting magnets may be electro or permanent, and may be installed and used assingle magnets or as arrangements of multiple magnets. In all of these cases, making an optimum selection of lifting magnet components to handle steel plate and shapes requires a thorough knowledge of the application.The factors that dominate the lifting magnet selection for any specificapplication are:1. Weight, shape, and contact area of the objects to be lifted.2. Surface conditions of load and magnet. 3. Stiffness of load. 4. Range of sizes and shapes to be lifted. 5. Frequency of occurrence of the different sizes...

 Open the catalog to page 3
How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets-4

CONSTRUCTION OF LIFTING MAGNETS Did you know? All electromagnets use DC power. In applications whereAC power is preferred, a rectifier is needed to convert ACpower to DC. Accordingly, it is possible to operateelectromagnets from a DC battery source. Lifting magnets fall into two general shapeclassifications: round and rectangular.The round lifting magnet is built with a centerpole (or core) and a round outer pole concentric with the center pole. This magnet can be either permanent or electro.The round electro lifting magnet is most efficientwhen considering its face area as related to lift power....

 Open the catalog to page 4
How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets-5

But if the same load offers a much larger contact area magnets of a differenttype, or smaller magnets of the same type, but more of them, can be used. These smaller magnets need not produce a field with such deep penetration into the load because the power of each magnet can be multiplied by the number used. Did you know? The number of poles a magnet has is determined by itsintended use. As a general rule of thumb, the more polesӔon the face of the magnet, the shallower the magnetic field.A two-pole magnet typically has a deeper field (extendingfarther from the face) than a magnet with 3 or more...

 Open the catalog to page 5
How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets-6

Did you know? Anything that prevents the face of the magnet frommaking full contact with the part being lifted is consideredan air gapӔ. Rust, dirt, ice, snow, machine grooves andholes are just a few examples of an air gapӔ. It isreccommended the magnet make full contact with acleanӔ part before lifting. For holding or lifting magnet applications we are concerned with distancesbetween magnet and load measured in fractions of inches (or only a few millimeters). These distances are very small in comparison to the dimensions of the magnetic poles and loads themselves. Also, we are frequently concerned...

 Open the catalog to page 6
How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets-8

SIZES AND SHAPES TO BE LIFTED For practical reasons most lift-beam andmagnet assemblies are used on a wide range of load sizes. This is particularly true when the assembly is used to unload or load flatcars or trucks where the load can be plates of varying sizes at one time and bars or beams or other structural shapes at another. The assembly must be designed with the proper selection and arrangement of magnets so that it is efficient on the full- range of items handled. If, for example, amagnet and lift-beam assembly is used to unload plates that vary in size from 12' x 8' (3658mm x 2438mm)...

 Open the catalog to page 8
How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets-9

EXAMPLE: 4' x 8' x 1" (1219mm x 2438mm x 25mm) plate is to be handledalmost all the time with a lift magnet assembly. Occasionally, much heavier, larger, and thicker plates are to be encountered. Rather than sizing the mag- netic system for the heavier plates, consider sizing the magnet lift assembly to the common lightweight plates and plan to use other approaches on the rare heavier and larger plates.You could (a) use a sling and hook arrangement to lift the heavier plates bywelding temporary lift eyes on the heavier plates, or (b) perform any burning or cutting that would normally be done...

 Open the catalog to page 9
How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets-10

(1) Percentage of sheet area actually contacting flush with the magnet face.(2) Quality of the path the sheet offers to the magnetic circuit from pole to pole. When a load is flat for a definable portion of its overall area, a simple calcula-tion of the proportion of the magnet face that is covered will allow us to esti- mate magnet holding power. For example, corrugated sheet is to be handled as illustrated. In this case half of the magnet face is covered, so the lifting power on this corrugated sheet is estimated to be about one half what it would be on a solid sheet of the same thickness.The...

 Open the catalog to page 10
How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets-11

the permanent magnet are temporarilydiverted so that the holding power at the pole face is zero. Since there are no moving parts, there is no need for concern about a mechanical malfunction.Similar protection can be obtained frompermanent turn-off type magnets. These permanent lifting magnets use additional permanent elements that can be rotated into position to negate the lifting field. The turn- off cycle is manually activated, thereby making the holding and releasing function completely independent of an electrical power source.The magnetic holding power is never lostwith this type of switchable...

 Open the catalog to page 11
How to Choose & Use Lifting Magnets-12

SAFETY FACTOR Published lifting magnet capacities represent ultimate lift strength - the liftingcapacity of the magnet on different loads UNDER IDEAL CONDITIONS - unless clearly specified otherwise.It would be impossible to forsee all varying conditions of operation from oneinstallation to another and to try to rate the magnet for each and every possible condition of operation. Instead, the magnet specifier must do this by applying a Safety Factor to the ultimate lift strength of the magnet, making sure that the safety factor applied represents actual conditions as much as practical.Some of the...

 Open the catalog to page 12

All ERIEZ catalogs and technical brochures

  1. Recycling

    6  Pages

Archived catalogs

  1. lifting magnets

    24  Pages

*Prices are pre-tax. They exclude delivery charges and customs duties and do not include additional charges for installation or activation options. Prices are indicative only and may vary by country, with changes to the cost of raw materials and exchange rates.