Performance analysis and experimental verification of solenoid actuator

Typical application of solenoid that is discussed in this paper is to operate pneumatic valves under harsh aerospace environmental conditions and high endurance requirements. A thorough analysis of force balance is required to ensure that solenoid will function under all worst operating conditions. A numerical simulation based on finite element (FE) methods is used for evaluating electromagnetic force generated from solenoid at different stroke conditions. FE modeling is done considering practical non-idealities that exist due to manufacturing and assembly process along with worst case solenoid geometry. Low carbon steel material that is used in this solenoid is experimentally characterized for its nonlinear BH properties. This BH curve is fed to the FE Analysis (FEA). 2D static, 2D transient, 3D static FE analysis methods along with different mesh sizes are compared. Experimental verification of the force generated from solenoid is used to validate the methods of finite element analysis.