MEG with saturating core

Revision 2

Measuring B-H Curve .....................................................................................................................2

Calculation of magnet’s coercive force ...........................................................................................5
Estimation of maximum power which can be obtained from magnet.............................................6
Driver...............................................................................................................................................8
Trying MEG core ............................................................................................................................9
Simulation based on experimental BH curve ................................................................................12
Links ..............................................................................................................................................13

FE R&D group http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ferd041/info

2014
Measuring B-H Curve
I use two cores with two coils on each, similar arrangement to variable inductor.
Each coil has 60 turns, wire diam. 0.4mm

pic1. Test setup for measuring BH curve

pic2. Test setup schematic

On one pair of coils I applied 12v from DC power thru variable resistor to adjust current.
On the other pair of coils I measured inductance with L meter.

Then I use below formula to calculate core’s relative permeability

µ µ0 N2 A Ll
L = ------------------ therefore µ = ------------------
l µ0 N2 A
L,uH 9759 9674 9703 9680 9718 9603 9450 8930 7757 5574 3924 1761 903 476
Ic,mA 0 12 24 44 84 180 212 260 356 516 648 948 1500 2100
mu 648,2 642,6 644,5 643 645,5 637,9 627,7 593,2 515,3 370,3 260,7 117 59,98 31,62
Tab1. Without magnets

pic3. Inductance (uH) vs control current (mA)

pic4. Relative core permeability vs control current (mA)

L,uH 1202 1319 1530 1942 2237 2772 3165 3347 3431 4330 4460
Ic,mA -2100 -1500 -948 -516 -356 -176 -80 -40 -20 -8 0
mu 79,84 87,62 101,6 129 148,6 184,1 210,2 222,3 227,9 287,6 296,3
Tab. 2.1 With magnets

L,uH 4460 4449 4594 4653 5020 5984 6735 5215 3640 1806 723
Ic,mA 0 12 20 40 80 176 356 516 648 944 1500
mu 296,3 295,5 305,2 309,1 333,5 397,5 447,4 346,4 241,8 120 48,03
Tab. 2.2

pic5. Inductance (uH) vs control current (mA) with magnets

pic6. Relative core permeability vs control current (mA) with magnets

Calculation of magnet’s coercive force

pic7. Test setup pic8. Equivalent magnetic circuit

HmLm + Фm Rm = Ф1 Rc1 +NI = Ф2 Rc2 (1)

Ф1 + Ф2 = Фm

where

Lm Lc / 2 Lc / 2
Rm = ------------- , Rc1 = ------------- and Rc2 = -------------
µ0 Am µ0 µc1 Ac µ0 µc2 Ac

for left and right halves of core correspondingly.

At the point where coils flux equal magnets flux in left core leg Ф1 = 0 therefore

NI = Ф2 Rc2

Substituting it to (1) get formula for Hm

N I (Rm - Rc2)
Hm = ------------------------
Lm Rc2

Substituting all values

Lm 1,50E-02 m magnet’s length Rm 1,19E+08

magnet’s cross section
Am 1,00E-04 m2 area
µ0 1,26E-06 Rc2 3,17E+06
µc2 147 found from pic.6
Ac 1,54E-04 m2 core’s cross section area
Lc 0,18 m core’s length
N 60 turns number of turns
I 0,360 A current Hm 5,29E+04 A/m

* I was expecting quite different value

Estimation of maximum power which can be obtained from
magnet

pic9. Setup

pic10. Equivalent magnetic circuit from the point of view of output circuit

HmLm = Фm ( Rm + Rc1||Rc2)

HmLm
so Фm = -----------------------
Rm + Rc1||Rc2

Ф1 + Ф2 = Фm

and Ф1 Rc1 = Ф2 Rc2

Фm Rc2 Фm
so Ф2 = -------------------- and Ф1 = ---------------------------
1 + Rc2 / Rc1 Rc1 (1 + Rc2 / Rc1)
using Ф = BA we can obtain

HmLm
B1 = ----------------------------------------------
(Rm + Rc1||Rc2) (1 + Rc2 / Rc1) Ac

So energy stored in core will be

B2 Vc
W = ------------- where Vc is volume of the core
2 µ0 µc

and maximum work performed by PM’s field

P = ∆W f = f (W0 – W1)
where W0 and W1 energy in core corresponding to minimal and maximal µc
and f – control frequency

Substituting all values and calculating

off on
Hm 5,29E+04 a/m µc 275 µc1 87
Lm 1,50E-02 m Rm 1,19E+08 µc2 120
Am 1,00E-04 m2 Rc 1,69E+06 Rc1 5,35E+06
µ0 1,26E-06 Fm 6,60E-06 Rc2 3,88E+06
Ac 1,54E-04 m2 F 3,30E-06 Fm 6,52E-06
Lc 0,18 m B 0,021 F1 2,74E-06
Vc 2,77E-05 m3 W 1,84E-05 F2 3,78E-06
Freq 300 hz B1 1,78E-02
B2 2,45E-02
W1 4,02E-05
W2 5,54E-05

dW 5,88E-05
P 0,018 W

Maximum output power P = 18mW at 300Hz which is looks like values I got in experiment
Driver
pic11. I rewound my coils

2x2x36 turns

L1= 1339uH
L2 = 1250uH

L1+L2 = 5263uH / 2630uH

L1-L2 = 202uH / 191uH

(without magnet / with magnet)

pic12. Driver schematic

pic13. Driver on prototype board

 pic14. Trying with test coil 390uH

voltage on 0.25 ohm resistor

pic15. power consumption

Trying MEG core

pic16. top-current thru control coils, bottom pic17. Same as pic.16 but control coil polarity
– voltage on output coils Rload = 15

pic18. Experimental setup

 pic19. top-current thru control coils, bottom –
voltage on output coils Rload = 15

pic20. Power consumption

Rs = 0.2
Imin = 0.4A
Imax = 1.2A

Rload = 15ohm

Average Pout = 1.14 * 1.14 / 15 = 86mW

Pin = 3W

R,ohm 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
U,v 0,39 0,63 0,77 0,88 0,97 1,04 1,07 1,09 1,14 1,14 1,17 1,19 1,21 1,23 1,26
P,w 0,16 0,2 0,2 0,19 0,19 0,18 0,16 0,15 0,14 0,13 0,12 0,12 0,11 0,11 0,11

maximum COP < 10%

pic21. Voltage on load vs load resistance

pic22. Power on load vs load resistance
Simulation based on experimental BH curve

pic.23 top – µ core vs control current; middle – magnetic field in core vs control current (red left
core’s leg, green – right leg); bottom – energy in core vs control current

So far my conclusion – magnet is too weak.

Links
1. FE R&D group
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ferd041/info

2. Homebrew electronic lab tools

https://sites.google.com/site/vasik041