610

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 46, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010

Computation of the Losses in a Laminated Ferromagnetic Material Under

Bidirectional Induction Excitation
Olivier de la Barrire, Hamid Ben Ahmed, Mohamed Gabsi, and Martino LoBue
SATIE, ENS de Cachan, CNRS, UniverSud, F-94230 Cachan, France
In this paper, an analytical method for the calculation of power losses in FeSi laminations, taking into account skin effect and the
ferromagnetic material nonlinearity, is used to compute iron losses. The electromagnetic field is assumed to be bidimensional, as it is the
case in many applications in electrical engineering. The results of the analytical method used to solve the nonlinear diffusion equation
are used as a starting point for the losses computation in the ferromagnetic material, using a losses separation model. The computation
assumptions are detailed, and the results are discussed.
Index TermsDiffusion equation, high-frequency excitation, power losses.

I. INTRODUCTION
ODAY, the design of high-speed electrical machines (e.g.,
in aeronautic applications [1]) represents a major challenge. Thanks to the development of power electronics, supply
current frequencies can reach important values, of the order of
several kilohertz. In this context, a major difficulty arises for machine designers: an accurate calculation of iron losses becomes
necessary, in order to maximize the machine efficiency, and to
avoid an excessive increase of temperature. The iron losses computation in conventional ferromagnetic materials such as FeSi
laminations in the range of frequencies and inductions used in
high-speed electrical machines requires to take into account the
skin effect and the nonlinearity of the ferromagnetic media.
A further complication arises from the fact that induction loci
in machines yokes are bidimensional [2].
The computation of losses in nonlinear ferromagnetic media
under bidirectional excitation is possible by using finite elements and vector Preisach modeling [3], [4]. Although these
methods provide accurate results, they can be quite time consuming. For this reason, a simplified analytical model might be
more suitable for design purposes.
The analytical computation of iron losses in ferromagnetic
laminations when the induction frequency is low enough to neglect skin effect is a classical problem. A complete theory has
been developed under unidirectional induction excitation [5],
based on losses separation. Moreover, a phenomenological extension to bidirectional induction excitations has been proposed
and validated by experimental measurements [6].
To take into account the skin effect under increasing excitation frequency, some authors propose to solve the diffusion
equation, assuming that the material is linear [7]. Nevertheless,
the validity of this simplifying hypothesis needs to be discussed,
especially when induction levels reach important values.
Other authors decided to develop analytical solutions of the
nonlinear diffusion equation, to take saturation into account
[8], [9]. This approach permits the computation of the classical
losses, by the use of the Poynting vector.

Manuscript received June 18, 2009; revised September 04, 2009; accepted
September 22, 2009. Current version published January 20, 2010.
Corresponding author: O. de la Barrire (e-mail: barriere@satie.ens-cachan.
fr).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2009.2034018

Fig. 1. Magnetic flux per unit length fixed in the x- and y -directions.

Here, we would like to use the approach by Mayergoyz and

coauthors to compute also the hysteresis and the excess losses.
To do that, we will solve the nonlinear diffusion equation in the
ferromagnetic media, in order to predict the local behaviour of
the electromagnetic field for each point of the lamination. Then
this result is used as the starting point for the application of a
power losses model.
II. INDUCTION CALCULUS UNDER HIGH-FREQUENCY
BIDIMENSIONAL INDUCTION EXCITATION
Our purpose here is to apply a model of induction calculation at each point of a ferromagnetic nonlinear material [8], [9],
such as conventional FeSi laminations, under bidirectional excitation.
A. Working Hypothesis
We start from the following working hypothesis:
The lamination is assumed to be infinite in the plane perpendicular to the lamination thickness (this thickness is
called ). So all edges effects are neglected in the calculation.
The total magnetic flux in the two directions perpendicular
to the lamination thickness is fixed. More precisely, with
the axis system represented in Fig. 1, the total magnetic
along the x-axis is fixed, as well
flux in the lamination
as the total magnetic flux along the y-axis . Since the xy
is given
plan is assumed to be infinite, the magnetic flux
per unit length of the y-axis, as well as the magnetic flux
is given per unit length of the x-axis. So we are saying
that the mean inductions over the lamination thickness are
fixed

0018-9464/$26.00 2010 IEEE

(1)

DE LA BARRIRE et al.: COMPUTATION OF THE LOSSES IN A LAMINATED FERROMAGNETIC MATERIAL

Fig. 2. Effect of the approximation of the B-H curve of a FeSi 3% iron lamination to a B
KH law, with K : , and n .

= 0 65

=9

Thanks to the MaxwellFaraday equation, these conditions are equivalent to fixing the electric field on the
boundary of the lamination
(2)
Following the calculation method given in [8] and [9],
we use a nonlinear magnetization curve of the type
, where is an integer. An example of such an approximation is given in Fig. 2, for a FeSi 3% lamination.
A difficulty comes out from the fact that the initial permeability around the origin is infinite, which is not exact from
a physical point of view. So this approximation may lead
to significant error for weak induction levels.
This point is interesting, since it means that the hysteresis phenomenon is neglected for the field computation procedure. Nevertheless, the losses, including the hysteresis and excess losses,
will be computed on the basis of this field computation. Such a
method is called a postprocessing method in [10]. Although
the drawbacks of this method have been put in evidence in [10],
this approximation is necessary to allow a strictly analytical
treatment.
In [8] and [9], it is shown that the nonlinear skin effect
theory applied to a magnetic material of infinite thickness
leads to a finite penetration depth
of the magnetic
field. In this paper, we assume that the thickness remains
) to
high enough (in practice, must be smaller than
be able to use the very same mathematical procedure.
B. Nonlinear Diffusion for a Circular Flux Excitation
In this first section, the case of a circular flux excitation is
, and the
studied. We limit ourself to the case where
is deduced using symmetry considerations. For simcase
.
plicity, we call
Now let us assume that the magnetic field at the surface of the
material is known, and has a circular locus, with a pulsation
(3)
Using complex notation, it is possible to write
(4)
The diffusion equation leads to the expression, for the
component:
(5)

611

Fig. 3. Maximal values of circular induction loci for each z in a 0.5 mm thick
FeSi3% lamination, submitted to a mean circular induction locus excitation (amplitude of 1 T, and a 8000-Hz frequency).

where is the conductivity of the material.

In [8], it is shown that when the surface magnetic field is
circular, the magnetic field and induction loci for each point of
the material are also circular. In [8], the solution to (5) is given
for
for

(6)

Introducing (6) into (5), one can deduce the algebraic expression of and the finite penetration depth ([8] and [9]).
We now switch from the case of an imposed circular magnetic
field on the material surface as in (3) to the case of a rotating flux
excitation as in (7) using (2) and the wave impedance concept
([8] and [9])
(7)
Fig. 3 shows the amplitude of the circular induction locus obtained for each coordinate in a 0.5-mm-thick FeSi lamination, under an 8-kHz mean circular induction locus excitation
(1 T of amplitude), using both the nonlinear, and the classical
linear diffusion theory [7]. This result shows that, if saturation
is neglected, the induction levels may reach nonrealistic values
in the material for high-frequency excitation.
C. Nonlinear Diffusion for a Bidimensional Induction
Excitation of Arbitrary Shape
We now study the nonlinear diffusion phenomena in a ferromagnetic lamination excited by a bidimensional mean induction
locus of arbitrary shape, with a fundamental pulsation . The
solution is based on the perturbation technique presented in [8]
and [9]. The starting point consists of the fact that, whatever the
shape of the magnetic field on the material surface, it is possible
to write the two magnetic field components in each point of the
lamination under the following form:
(8)
The number is assumed to be small (i.e.,
). In (8),
and
are called the first-order perturbations
the functions
of the induction locus (the second and higher order terms in
are neglected). The functions
and
are the response to the
and pulsation studied in
circular excitation of amplitude
found for
the previous section. The finite penetration depth
this circular excitation is assumed to remain the same as the one
obtained in the circular case. Then, the first-order perturbation
and
are determined by substituting (8) in (5), and
terms

612

Fig. 4. Diffusion in a FeSi3% lamination (1 = 0:5 mm) for a bidimensional

induction locus of arbitrary shape (8000 Hz): representation of the induction
loci obtained at different depths in the lamination (z : surface, z = 0; 9 1 1=2,
z being equal to 0; 95 1 1=2). (a) Nonlinear diffusion; (b) linear diffusion.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 46, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010

Fig. 5. Diffusion in a FeSi3% lamination (1 = 0:5 mm) for a bidimensional

induction locus of arbitrary shape (8000 Hz), (the mean locus amplitude being
divided by 2 in comparison with Fig. 4): representation of the induction loci
obtained at different depths in the lamination (z : surface, z = 0; 5 1 =2, z
being equal to 0; 55 1 1=2). (a) Nonlinear diffusion; (b) linear diffusion.

III. COMPUTATION OF THE LOSSES IN THE LAMINATION

assuming that these functions are known on the material surface,
.
i.e., for
Therefore, using the wave impedance, we can switch from an
imposed magnetic field on the lamination surface to an imposed
electric field on the very same surface, which is the case when
one forces the mean induction locus.
The results are shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b), where the same
mean bidimensional induction locus has been applied (this induction locus is the same than the one met in stator yokes of
electrical machines, as presented in [2]). Fig. 4(b) presents the
results obtained with the linear theory of diffusion, whereas
Fig. 4(a) presents the results obtained with the nonlinear diffusion theory.
We now study in Fig. 5 what happens for lower mean flux densities. In this purpose, the mean flux density amplitude has been
divided by two in comparison with the locus given in Fig. 4.
For the linear case [Fig. 5(b)], the induction locus around the
lamination surface was also divided by two, due to the linearity
of the mathematical problem. This is not true for the nonlinear
problem: although the mean induction locus amplitude is reduced by two, this is not the case for the induction locus located
on the lamination surface, which remains quite important, and
does not tend to the linear case, as it could be expected for low
induction values. As it was already pointed out, this is due to the
fact that under small field excitation, the mathematical model of
the lamination leads to an infinite relative permeability, which
over emphasizes the skin effect. So since this increase of the
permeability under small induction densities is in contradiction
with the physical behavior of the material, the result given in
Fig. 5(a) has to be considered with care. Under small field excitation, the linear model of Fig. 5(b) appears more suitable, provided the induction levels around the edges of the lamination remain under the saturation values, which is the case in Fig. 5(b).

The purpose of this part is to present an iron losses computation model based on losses separation theory, using the results
of the previous field section.
A. Classical Losses
As the skin effect is not negligible, the computation of the
classical losses in the material by a volume integral leads to
quite heavy calculation. A much more suitable way to compute
these losses is based on the use of the Poynting theorem at the
surface of the lamination. Under complex notation, the power
flux density can be calculated with the expression
(9)

B. Hysteresis Losses
The hysteresis losses are computed under the following assumption: although the hysteresis phenomenon has not been
taken into account in the induction computation, the computed
induction can be used as a starting point for the hysteresis losses
computation.
For each coordinates in the lamination, the hysteresis losses
can be locally evaluated. Then, the contributions of all coordinate in the hysteresis losses are summed in order to calculate
the total hysteresis loss per unit of volume
(10)
The hysteresis loss model, permitting us to derive the hysteresis
for each coloss given the bidirectional excitation
ordinate, is given in [6].

DE LA BARRIRE et al.: COMPUTATION OF THE LOSSES IN A LAMINATED FERROMAGNETIC MATERIAL

613

This approach can be justified by the fact that the hysteresis

losses are produced by the magnetization process at a local
scale.
C. Excess Losses
The excess losses are computed with a similar procedure as
the hysteresis losses. The lamination is divided into a certain
of elementary layers where the induction can be
number
reasonably considered as uniform. For each layer, the excess
losses model under bidirectional induction excitation given in
[6] is applied. Then the energy loss per unit of volume due to
excess losses is obtained by
(11)
and
are the mean induction components in the elementary layer number ( ) of the lamination, computed by the analytical model. Nevertheless, a discussion is necessary. Such a
method implicitly assumes that the elementary layers are independent from each other in the excess losses computation procedure.
That might not be true, since it is demonstrated in [11] that excess losses are caused by the correlated magnetic wall motions
in a magnetic object. More precisely, the theory assumes that the
, responsible of excess losses, is uniform over
excess field
a great amount of magnetic objects, to allow a statistical computation of excess losses. So one concludes that this theory can
be applied in the present case only if each layer is thick enough
to contain a great amount of magnetic objects. In [11], the magnetic objects are assumed to have approximatively the same size
of the material grains, and the numerical value of 20 nm is set as
an example for grain diameters in FeSi laminations. So the condition to be allowed to apply the excess losses model on each
mm
nm
.
elementary layer is to have:
for computation time considerations, the
If one takes
condition is largely verified.
IV. DISCUSSION
Fig. 6 shows an example of iron losses computed by the
method just described, using both the linear and nonlinear
diffusion theory. First, due to the high frequencies, it is clear
that the classical losses component represents the major parts
of the total losses.
If the losses calculation was based on the mean induction,
the computed losses would be the same in the linear, and the
nonlinear case. Nevertheless, Fig. 6 proves that the losses are
related to the local distribution of induction, leading to different
results in the linear and nonlinear diffusion theory.
We notice that the total losses are higher in the nonlinear
case. This is due to the fact that the classical and excess losses
are much more important, since the induction loci are more
distorded in the nonlinear case [Fig. 4(a)]. This increases the
number of harmonics in the classical losses computation, and
also the wave form factor involved in the excess losses computation (called in [5]).
The interpretation of the hysteresis losses per cycle [Fig. 4(b)]
is more complicated, and no general rule can be drawn out, be-

Fig. 6. Losses with the linear and nonlinear diffusion model for a FeSi3% lamination (1 = 0:5 mm), for the mean induction locus of Section II-C. (a) Classical and total losses; (b) hysteresis losses; (c) excess losses.

cause the obtained results are highly dependent on the mean applied excitation induction waveform, and the type of diffusion
(linear or not). If there were no skin effect, the hysteresis losses
per cycle would only depend on the waveform of the induction
locus, and not on the frequency or on the shape. In the presence
of skin effect, as the frequency increases, the induction tends
to concentrate itself around the lamination edge, and decrease
around the lamination center. So there is a competition between
the increase of the hysteresis losses around the edges, and their
decrease around the center. Therefore, a general conclusion is
by no way trivial, and requires a precise calculation for each induction locus and type of diffusion (linear or not).
REFERENCES
[1] M. A. Rahman, A. Chiba, and T. Fukao, Super high speed electrical
machines-summary, in IEEE Power Engineering Society General
Meeting, Jun. 610, 2004, vol. 2, pp. 12721275.
[2] O. Bottauscio, A. Canova, M. Chiampi, and M. Repetto, Iron losses
in electrical machines: Influence of different material models, IEEE
Trans. Magn., vol. 38, pp. 805808, 1987.
[3] O. Bottauscio, M. Chiampi, and D. Chiarabaglio, Advanced model
of laminated magnetic cores for two-dimensional field analysis, IEEE
Trans. Magn., vol. 36, pp. 561573, May 2000.
[4] J. Saitz, Computation of the core loss in an induction motor using the
vector Preisach hysteresis model incorporated in finite element analysis, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 36, pp. 769773, 2000.
[5] G. Bertotti, General properties of power losses in soft magnetic materials, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 24, pp. 621630, 1988.
[6] F. Fiorillo, A phenomenological approach to rotational power losses
in soft magnetic laminations, in Proc. 1st Int. Workshop Magn. Properties of Elect. Sheet Steel under 2-D Excitation, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig, Germany, Sep. 1617, 1991, pp.
1124.
[7] A. Boglietti and A. Cavagnino, Iron loss prediction with PWM supply:
An overview of proposed methods from an engineering application
point of view, in Conf. Rec. IEEE IAS Annual Meeting, 2007, New
Orleans, LA, pp. 8188.
[8] I. D. Mayergoyz, F. M. Abdel-Kader, and F. P. F. Emad, On penetration of electromagnetic fields into nonlinear conducting ferromagnetic
media, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 55, pp. 618628, 1984.
[9] I. D. Mayergoyz, Nonlinear Diffusion of Electromagnetic Fields: With
Applications to Eddy Currents and Superconductivity. New York:
Academic, 1998.
[10] E. Dlala, Comparison of models for estimating magnetic core losses
in electrical machines using the finite-element method, IEEE Trans.
Magn., vol. 45, pp. 716725, Feb. 2009.
[11] G. Bertotti, Hysteresis in Magnetism. San Diego, CA: Academic,
1998, ch. 1112.