Electromagnetic Plunger with a

Stopper/Blocker

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Introduction
Linear plunger/actuator is use for many applications such as voice coil,
electromagnetic relays, electromagnetic valves etc.
The actuator has a blocker/stopper that restricts the linear motion of the
plunger. It consists of coil, magnetic core, spring and moving magnetic
plunger/armature.
The plunger is guided by the nonmagnetic guider.
Magnetic core and plunger are modeled with both linear and nonlinear BH
Curves separately.
The transient current is passed through the coil to actuate the plunger and
the dynamics is modeled.
The electromagnetic force on the plunger is computed and coupled with the
dynamic equation of motion.
The equation of motion of the plunger and the spring and damping attached
to its bottom are modeled using the Global ODEs and DAEs.
The Events interface is used to model the contact and release of plunger.
The model is parameterized so that the model can be simulated for variation
of one or many of these parameters using parametric sweep study.

Construction: A 3D View
Stopper/Blocke
r
Magnetic core
Multi-turn coil
Air region
Guider
Plunger/armature
Plunger motion direction

Construction: A 2D Axi-symmetry View

Stopper/Block
er
Magnetic core
Multi-turn coil

These additional lines are added

to make it compatible for a
mapped mesh.

Air region
(white)
Guider
Plunger/armature

Plunger motion
direction

r=0
Figure: 2D axi-symmetry geometry depicting various parts of the linear plunger

Modeling Approach
Geometry dimension: 2D-axisymmetry
Geometry finalized: using Form Assembly
Physics used:
1. Magnetic Fields
2. Moving Mesh
3. Global ODEs and DAEs
4. Coefficient Form Boundary PDE
5. Events
Study type: Time Dependent
Results:
Electromagnetic force on the plunger vs time
Dynamic position of the plunger vs time
Dynamic velocity of the plunger vs time

Model Parameters

Model Variables

A Rectangular waveform is used to model the current

in the coil

Magnetic Fields Modeling

Plunger and Magnetic Core settings when using linear material

The Magnetic Core and Plunger are modeled using separate Amperes Law
nodes. A linear relationship between B and H is defined using Magnetic
Permeability.
The relative permeability for linear material are: mur_plunger = 4000, and
mur_core = 1200.
Above figures show the setup for plunger and similar settings are applied for
Magnetic Core as well.

Magnetic Fields Modeling

Plunger and Magnetic Core settings when using nonlinear material

The non-linearity of Magnetic Core and Plunger is modeled using

separate Amperes Law nodes.
Above figures show the setup for plunger and similar settings are
applied for Magnetic Core as well.

Magnetic Fields Modeling

Multi-Turn Coil settings

The coil is defined using a Multi-Turn Coil feature. The current in the
coil is defined using a rectangular waveform defined in the variables
tab. The number of turns, coil conductivity and coil cross-sections are
defined as shown in the above figure.

Magnetic Fields Modeling

Force
Calculation

Since magnetic materials are used

in the model, the Lorentz method
for force calculation cannot be used
as it only support the conductive
but nonmagnetic materials.
Maxwells Stress Tensor is used to
compute the forces on the plunger.
When using Stress Tensor to
compute forces, the mesh around
the boundaries should be very fine
to get accurate results.

Magnetic Fields Modeling

A continuity boundary condition is added to ensure a

continuity between the stationary and moving
domains.
The Identity pair is created using Form Assembly
feature in the Geometry node.

Modeling Contact and Release of Plunger

Eventsinterface to model the instance when the plunger is in contact with the
stopper/blocker or is released when the coil is turned of
TheEventsinterface, which is available within theMathematics > ODE and
DAEinterfaces branch
The Discrete states interface is used to model the state of the plunger. The two
states are when the plunger is in contact with the blocker and when the
plunger is not in contact. The PlungerState variable is defined for this purpose.
This variable is further used in Global ODEs and DAEsinterface to appropriately
model the plunger in contact or of contact.

Modeling Contact and Release of Plunger

Indicator States condition is used a condition to change the

PlungerState from 0 to 1 or vice versa. Open and Close states are

defined based on the position and force of the plunger
The indicator states will determine when the event should occur

Modeling Contact and Release of Plunger

Implicit Events condition is used to define the logical conditions to

change the state of the Plunger. This condition will reinitialize the
state of the plunger to be either zero or one based whether the
Indicator states are greater or less than zero. Two Implicit Events are
created for Open and Close.

Modeling Plunger Dynamics

Global ODEs and DAEs interface is used to solve the

equation of motion
d2p
dp
M 2 D
k . p Fz ( p, v, t ) 0
dt
dt

The above
separate
dv equation can be rewritten into two Where,
M

D
.
v

k
.
p

F
(
p
,
v
,
t
)

0
z
p = z-position
equations
dt as

dp
v 0
dt

The PlungerState variable from Events interface is used here to

appropriately model the plunger in contact or of contact

v = velocity
M = mass
D = damping coefficient
k = stifness
Fz = electromagnetic force

Modeling Plunger Dynamics

The Coefficient Form Boundary PDE, is used to solve

the displacement in Z direction on the contracting and
expanding boundaries

Modeling Plunger Dynamics

The Coefficient Form Boundary PDE

The PDE solved along the boundaries and the Dirichlet boundary
conditions applied are shown in the figures below

Moving Mesh Settings

Moving boundaries as prescribed by variable p.

Moving Mesh physics is
only solved in the
moving domains.

Fixed boundary

Guiding boundaries: contract/expand boundaries.

Moving Mesh Settings

Moving Mesh interface is used to model the Translational Motion of the
plunger.
The Fixed Mesh and Prescribed Mesh Deformation are defined as
shown in the figure.
The displacement of Plunger is given by position variable p obtained
from Global ODEs and DAEs interface.
Same method as in example:
https://www.comsol.com/model/electromagnetic-plunger-36671
https://
www.comsol.com/model/voltage-induced-in-a-coil-by-a-moving-magnet-14163

Since there is a blocker in the actuator the mesh between the plunger
and the blocker is contracted to almost zero volume. To avoid this the
height of the contracted mesh is fixed to a finite value (0.5 mm).
On the side boundaries of the contracting and expanding air region, the
prescribed displacement in z direction is assigned a new variable ZHelp.
This variable is solved using Coefficient Form Boundary PDE interface.
The following blogposts describe in detail this method:
https://www.comsol.com/blogs/model-translational-motion-with-the-deformed-mes
h-interfaces/
https://www.comsol.com/blogs/deformed-mesh-interfaces-rotations-and-linear-tran
slations/

Meshing

This figure shows the meshing around the plunger, showing the portion where the
contraction of the structured mesh is occurring in the air region.

Solver Configuration

Use BDF 2nd order solver with Event tolerance set to 0.001.
Use a Fully Coupled solver with setting as shown in the above picture (right).
The solver settings for this example is similar to the suggestion in the following
Knowledge Based Entry:
https://www.comsol.com/support/knowledgebase/1127/

Changing Discretization
1
2

For faster computation (usually in the

initial design stage), you can choose
the linear mesh elements by changing
the Discretization to Linear as shown
in these images.

Results: Magnetic Flux Density

Figure: Magnetic flux density in the plunger at t=0.128 s.

Results: Electromagnetic Force

Figure: The electromagnetic force acting on the plunger depending

on the current in the coil

Results: Plunger Position

In
Contact

Figure: The change in the position of the plunger as the current

varies in the coil

Results: Plunger Velocity

In Contact

Figure: The velocity profile of the plunger w.r.t time as the current
varies in the coil

unger Dynamics with Stopper

Stopper or Blocker

Core

Coil

Plunger/Armature

NOTE: The results are for D = 0.5*Dc.

NOTE: You need to click on Slide Show mode to visualize the animation.