DIY an electromagnetic glove

Electromagnet + Glove – A glove fixed with an electromagnet. This project “Electromagnetic Glove” generally uses principles that we all encountered in 7th grade. This project will be fun wearable to play with and suitable for electronics beginners. This article will focus on the technical aspects involved in this project rather than the DIY steps.

Materials Needed:

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Gloves

Magnetic wire

Iron bolts or any other magnetic material

Velcro

Connection line

9V Battery – 2 Count

theory:

Image courtesy: www.electronic-tutorials.ws

Electric current flowing through a coil of wire induces a magnetic field around it. The higher the current, the stronger the magnetic field. This is how an electromagnet works. Basically, the construction of an electromagnet requires three important parts:

Magnetic core

Coil

Voltage Source

The core is mainly used to strengthen the magnetic field produced by the coil. The shape and material of the core does have a great impact on the strength of the field. Using ferromagnetic materials such as iron in the shape of the letter C is considered to be the best core for magnets. The strength of the magnetic field can be determined by using the following formula

H = NXI / L

Where N – number of turns, I is the current flowing, L

is the length in meters. Knowing these three, you should be able to calculate the magnetic field. However, you should know the permeability of the magnetic core which determines the force produced by the electromagnet. I don't know this because I just picked up an iron bolt at home.

Select battery:

Not all batteries will suit the purpose of this project. Never use a rechargeable battery to power this electromagnet. Lead acid, Li-ion, NiMH, etc. batteries should not be used in this project at any cost. When the magnet coil is connected to the terminals of the battery, it will create a short circuit, allowing maximum current to flow through it. A rechargeable battery will have a very low internal resistance, which will allow maximum current to flow through it, eventually catching fire or blowing to pieces.

On the other hand, non-rechargeable batteries like alkaline or carbon-zinc have high resistance which in turn limits the current. Hence, it is not safe to use these batteries for these purposes for a short period of time. So we have chosen these batteries for our project.

Production of electromagnetic gloves:

The whole process of making this wearable – electromagnetic glove is covered in this video because it is very doable than writing a 500 line article.