Investigation of topology optimization of magnetic circuit using density method

AbstractTopology optimization using the density method, which determines the optimal topology by distributing the magnetic material in the design domain, is attractive for designers of magnetic devices, because an initial conceptual design can be obtained. As the number of design variables in the design domain is so huge, a sufficient solution cannot be obtained by using the direct search method. Then, the steepest descent method is adopted to obtain fast convergence. In this paper, some problems in applying the density method to the practical topology optimization are investigated. The accuracy of calculating the sensitivity using the adjoint variable method and the effect of initial material density on the obtained results are examined. The effectiveness of the proposed optimization method is illustrated by applying it to the determination of the optimal topology of a permanent magnet which generates a uniform magnetic field. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 155(2): 53–63, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20259