Why are induction coils round?

Question

I've asked a very similar question recently and got a very good answer (thanks 'remember...'!), but there's no facility to reply to an answer:

My question now is what are induction coils circular/cylindrical?

Is it just to make life easy?

If i made an elliptical coil to induce a current in a circular coil, would this still work and what would the effect of the range be?

If i understand the answer i was given earlier, having an elliptical coil will increase the flux density inside the coil (as the wires are physically closer together), but you can increase the field strength by increasing the radius, so how would be effected by an ellipse?

A lot of questions in one to be getting on with! Good luck!

Answer 1

My suggestion is that a circular induction coil would produce a relatively constant flux because of its geometry, whereas an elliptic one would not have a uniform flux throughout as it would be more concentrated at the ends with greater curvature.