I am looking into building a permanent magnet alternator by arranging magnets and coils in a standard way. I'm going for single phase only. There is a lot on the internet about building one of these, but I am confused about the proper angle to place the coils in the magnetic fields. Can anyone help? More below:
When a conductive line is placed in a magnetic field, current is induced. But at what angles is the current maximized?
Situation 1:
| | | | \_____/ coil
N ---> Direction of motion S
In this situation, the magnetic alternation is moving along the direction of the wire. Does this mean that the alternating poles of the magnets would 'push' current through the wire in the same direction of the magnet movement? Imagine this magnet moving from left to right across your screen, and the coil being laid down as drawn.
Situation 2:
Now imagine the same layout of the coil, but now picture the magnet moving not left to right, but rather from your screen toward you. Picture the magnet coming at you, away from the coil and another magnet coming up from behind it, from within your monitor (think 3D).
| | | | \_____/ coil
N (magnet is coming at you) S
My question is, which of these is the best arrangement? Is the idea to push the current along parallel with the wire (Situation 1), or just hit it with crosswise waves of magnetic polarity (Situation 2). Are there other arrangements that are MORE ideal? Thanks for any help, Brian (haugeb)