The coupling of two rotating spherical magnets is investigated experimentally. For two specific angles between the input and output rotation axes, a cogging-free coupling is observed, where the driven magnet is phase-locked to the driving one. The striking difference between these two modes of operation is the reversed sense of rotation of the driven magnet. For other angles, the experiments reveal a more complex dynamical behavior, which is divided in three different classes. This is done by analyzing the deviation from a periodic motion of the driven magnet, and by measuring the total harmonic distortion of this rotation. The experimental results can be understood by a mathematical model based on pure dipole–dipole interaction, with the addition of adequate friction terms.

实验研究了两个旋转球形磁体的耦合。对于输入和输出旋转轴之间的两个特定角度，可以观察到无齿槽耦合，其中从动磁体与驱动磁体锁相。这两种操作模式之间的显着差异是从动磁铁的旋转方向相反。对于其他角度，实验揭示了更复杂的动力学行为，将其分为三个不同的类别。这是通过分析与从动磁体的周期性运动的偏差并通过测量此旋转的总谐波失真来完成的。通过基于纯偶极-偶极相互作用的数学模型，加上适当的摩擦项，可以理解实验结果。