Treadmill advice?

Question

Could somebody explained what Hi tech magnetic brakes are, which are situated on a treadmill?

Answer 1

This is pretty common on Manual treadmills(without motors) usually, it's like a smaller version of what you see on an exercise bike, and that is a flywheel(Basically a heavy weighted and well balanced metal wheel) with a magnet close to it for friction free resistance, the flywheel keeps the rollers moving along smoothly and the magnetic brake keeps it from making quick speed changes, and often the magnetic brake is used to help slow down and stop the treadmill.

The closer the magnet gets to the flywheel, the stronger the braking.

The only time I've ever seen a magnetic brake on a motorized treadmill was on an incline trainer.

Most treadmills only incline 10-12% Max.  Incline trainers will do 25% or 30% or even 50%.  

Usually on a treadmill, there is no brake at all, it simply pulls you a long and your weight is more than enough to slow it down and stop it.   Once your incline gets to around 15%, gravity has a significant effect, and you actually start moving faster than the treadmill motor is pulling you.  At that point, the "magnetic brake" takes over and keeps you from speeding up too much.  The magnetic brake is actually a combination of 3 seperate components working together:

1.  The motor, this is the mechanism that actually has the magnets and does the physical braking.

2.  The Motor Controller board, this is the high tech portion, it has a section that senses when the motor is going faster than the set speed and switches from "motor" mode to "brake/generator" mode and that keeps the machine at a nice even pace.

3.  Heat sink.  This is very important, most treadmills have some sort of heat sink, but it's barely noticeable, on incline trainors, however, it's usually as big as the motor.  When it goes into brake mode, a lot of heat is generated and this must be disipated or it will burn up the electronics that run the treadmill.

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

Magnetic brakes on a treadmill or any other piece of equipment are there to vary the level of effort required.

My guess because they are describing it as hi-tech and because it is attached to a small roller on a treadmill is that it will be a magnetic powder brake.  As a current is applied the powder sticks together and the roller is more difficult to turn.