Performance of a magnetic gear using ferrite magnets for low speed ocean power generation

A magnetic gear offers many advantages over its mechanical counterpart such as contact free torque production, no gear lubrication and inherent overload protection. However, current magnetic gear designs use large quantities of rare-earth magnet material and unfortunately the high cost of rare-earth material makes the magnetic gear uncompetitive with alternative technology. This paper investigates a low-cost magnetic gear using ferrite magnets. The ferrite magnets are arranged in a spoke-type arrangement. A novel mortise and tenon joint method is used to construct the magnetic gear. The gear is design for a very low speed ocean generation application.