An accurate method of calculating multilayer, multimaterial cylindrical magnetic shields

The basic concepts of shielding theory have existed since the last century [1,2]. There have been many publications on the subject of magnetic shielding, treating the case of shielding apparatus from static fields by means of multiple concentric shields and deriving several principles of fundamental importance. Unfortunately, however, theory has been applied to only the most ideal shield configurations, for the case of constant permeability [3-5]. This paper covers the analysis of shielding effectiveness of variable Permeability cylindrical shielded enclosures for the DC magnetic field case. When the permeability is a function of magnetic induction, the simple boundary solution for spherical or cylindrical shields can no longer be applied since the induction, through the permeability, is caused to vary as much as two orders of magnitude, causing nonuniformity in the field in the cavity and inside the shield. Thus, the permeability of the shielding material is considered as a function of the induction, and a significantly improved method of estimating the induction and permeability of the shield is presented. The effects of a multiple-shell geometry are treated in the equations of this analysis. This method gives fast, accurate results and can be run on a small computer for shielding optimization. Results of these magnetic field calculations allowed the selection of optimization criteria and showed how system requirements could be met by choosing a suitable shell structure arrangement. Experimental measurements on real materials for various shell structures confirmed the accuracy of this method.