Energy-Efficient Eco-Friendly Zero-Holding-Energy Magnetic Contactor for Industrial and Vehicular Applications

Abstract

This paper reports an energy-efficient permanent magnet (PM) zero-holding-energy magnetic contactor (ZMC) that consumes no energy while maintaining an open or closed state. Conventional solenoid magnetic contactor (MC) technology has several critical drawbacks, including high continuous energy consumption, continuous vibration, and low reliability. The proposed ZMC substantially reduces energy consumption and heat generation, produces no vibration, and provides increased reliability. Traditional MC analysis typically requires computationally expensive finite element analysis (FEA). To reduce the analysis costs, a recently proposed fast and accurate nonlinear transient path energy method (NT-PEM) is utilized to significantly reduce analysis time and costs. Analysis accuracy was verified experimentally using a fabricated ZMC prototype. The economic and environmental benefits of the proposed ZMC confirm its significant potential as an energy-efficient eco-friendly alternative to traditional MC technology. ZMC is particularly promising for vehicular micro-grids due to the prolongation of the lifetime of batteries owing to reduced energy consumption.