274 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 24, NO.

I, JANUARY 1988

COUPLING OF SATURATED ELECTROMAG NETIC SYSTEMS

TO NON-LINEAR POLIER ELECTRONIC DEVICES

Francis Piriou and Adel Razek, Senior Member, IEEE

ABSTRACT COUPLED MODEL FORMULATION

This paper is concerned with the analysis Inan electromagnetic system associated with an
of 2-D saturate d electromagnetic systems associated ext er n alelectriC circuit if R is a total ohmic
with non-linear electric circuits. The no n- l ine ar resistance 1 the total external linear inductance,
electromagnetic equations are modelled with th e <l> the total fl ux linkage and '( is the non linear
help of finite elements. The non-linear electric vol tage drop in the external circui t, the terminal
equations are directly coupl ed with the electroma­ voltage can be expressed as ;
gnetic ones and the Newton Raphson method is used

di(t)
to solve the resulting matrix system.
v e t) Ri (t) + I (1)
d<l>(t) y( )
dt
+
= + i

n
Numerical applications have been done on a
--;rr--

saturated mag eti c core coil fed by an electric

source through a diode. The results illustrate In case of 2-D electromagnetic analysiS we have
also :
the importance of coup"ling the two systems of equa­

l-
tions.
o (v a A) (v 0 A) 0 aA
ax ax ot
_
+ = J + (2)
INTRODUCTION oy oy o

the space disc retization of equation (2)

In the a naly sis of electromagnetic systems by the finite element method with J expressed

associated with electric circuits, two strategies from the current i results in the matrix ?orm :
can be followed. The first is an indirect coupling
method : it consists in the determination of the
electromagnetic or the electric parameters which
can be used to solve the circui t equation or the

<I>
mag netic system respectively. The consideration
of the non-linearity in any of these two equations If the flux is expressed in terms of A,
can be considered using some a p pro ximation s [1] equation (1) can be written under the matrix form

These approximations can be accepted in some applica­

tions and under particular conditions [1] [3]
in such a case the storage capacity and the time
of calculation are relatively moderate. In some

(3) (4), we
systems, techniq ues with less restrictive appro­
[ 2] combining equations and get for an insta nt

c oupl ing
ximat ions can be also used . The second stra­
t the equation :
tegy is a direct method where the non­
-linearity of one or both of the circuit an d magnetic

r[ 5 J rAJ [0] }
equations can be considered in a simultaneous solu­
tion of these
not use any appr oximatio n and
equations [ 5] . This me thod
an iterative procedure
does
[ -0J 1 T1 ° 1 [�1- [0] (5)
can
-linear
be used
matr ix
to solve
syst em.
the
In such
resulting
a cas e
combined
the
non­
sto rage lo [ R JJl l
t
l v [G J [IJ j 1
t
y

capacity and the time computation are expected

to be increased with respect to the indirect coupling
In (5) the u nkno wns are the current i, the
method case.
vector potential A and their time derivatives.
In the present paper the direct coupling method A time discretization of this equation permits
is investigated. The developed model is appli ed to solve it. The derivatives of i and A can be
to a saturated iron coil fed by a step vol tage

[4J :
considered using the classical forward difference
or a sinusoidal voltage thro ug h a diod e . To show algorithm
th e importance of the d i rect coupling method in
this type of application, the results are c ompared
to those obtained with the indirect co upl i ng method. U(t+lIt) - U ( t)
M
where ° :; s:; 1

The authors are with the Laboratoire de Genie

(6)
in the
if
corresponds
the
present
c onsta
to the
n study
t S
particular
U
equal
represents
zero
case
the
of
i or A.
algorithm
Euler,
In

and
Electrique de Paris, L.A. 127 C.N.R.5., Univ. Paris for S 0.5 it corresponds to the Crank-Nicolson
VI 91190 Gif!Yvet­
=

et XI, E.S.E., Plateau du Moulon, alg orithm .

te, FRANCE.

OOI8-9464/88/0100-0274S01.00©1988 IEEE

T
 275

i
Applying the algorithm (6) on equation (5)
we obtain :

� r[O-B)S +-it] [-(l-SJD] [A] ��, le.

J
0 + 1
O-SlY
(t+lItl G ]
[lit [(l-SJR + itlJ i t+lI:

-SS + -it] [80] ] [AJ �

0] l[ J
0

[
+
(7)
(l-Slv(t M) + sV(tJ
[�l
lit lit 1
[-SR +..l. i
t -BY (t)
+
+ V(t) - Va Sin tit

In (7) S and Y depend respectively on A and i

and both relations are non-linear. In such a cas e
the Newton-Raphson a l gori thIn ca n be used to solve
(7). Th e general expression of this equation Fig. 1. S tudi ed s ys tem
concerning the quanti t ies of th e n + 1 i terati on at
the i nsta nt t + �t is of the f or m : F i gure 2 shows the results ob tained whe n
apply ing a step voltage to the coil, i.e. when
the switches (see figu re 1) a re in p ositi on 1 and
3. In' this f i gure we can see the evolution of the
cur rent as function of time. It may be noted t h at
all results are given per unit values with i
ba
l/R, where the inductance (L:) "Is
=

viR and t
calculated � y the finite eleme nt method neglecUng
b se
=

saturation. The current has been de te rmi ned using

�-6s+ltl [SD] ] rAJ [0] direct

of
or
coupled
indirect coupled models. In the c<lse
model,
8t = t
the
124
time
and for
Curve (1) on the �� §8re 2 i s obtained by the indire ct
done with
calculation
S D.
has buen

l [ft-] [-6R ttl li

=

-6T

] [A] n [ ]n
t
c oupled model; the coil inductance is the one calcu­
+ +

lated without saturation (l) and the curre nt is

r[O-alSn It] [-0-6lD] (8l
obtained from analytical s o lut ion of the circuit
(2) is calculated
O-Bl
+

di fferential equation. C urve

l [ft-] [O-BJR ttl i

t+l>t T t+�t with di re ct c oupled model neglfcting saturation.
the ind irec t and direct coupled

a
+

We can see that

a
models when neglEcting saturation give the same
results. Curve (3) is ob t ine d from the indirect
Where Y,n and s� are the terms obt in ed from coupled model with the coil inductance calculated
Newton-Rap on lhIs a1 gorithIn to a c c ount f or for a saturation level corr e spo ndin g to the final
non-linearities and are d e f ined as : value of current. Curve (4) shows the obta ined

n dY ' n
[�]n [A]n (9)
n
i/ibase
y
NL d ,
[S ]
NL aA I

When calculating (8) we need to in vert the first

matrix in the left and side. This matrix is
unsymmetric, to make it symmetric, we shall proceed
to a multipl icati on of its second line by an
appropriate constant. This c o t an t whi ch de p en ds ns
on (1-S), �t and the excitation winding parameters
can be obtained by developping the e l em entary t erms
0,5
of matri xes D and G.

NUMERICAL APPLICATIONS

d eveloped model has been applied to a

The
si mple structure which consists in satur ated iron
core coil. This coil is fed by a step of volta�e,
, .L..___---'f-___-+-____+-___-;< c/cbasc
a sinu soidal voltage or thr ou gh a diode. In the
la s t case the external circuit is non-linear. To
characteristic of the use
2.
represent the diode, we
Fig. Evolution of current (switches in position
the classical expression under the exponential
1 differen t models with
shown in figure 1.
and 3 fig. 1) for
ibase
(linear).
form. The treated example is
3090 o f CmCE
viR and t l/R
- indirec � �5upled model w l thou t saturation
Ca l cu la tio n been done on a

a
=
have an IBM
1
Inter Regional de Calcul Elect roniq ue )
2 - direct coupled mode l without saturation
(Centre

3 - indirect co upled model with i nd uc t n ce calculated

ORSAY.

for a fixed level of saturation

4 - direct coupled model accounting for saturation.
276

results from the direct coupled model taking into and curve (3) when we take into account the satura­
account the actual effect of saturation. This curve tion. The calculation in the case of direct
shows the effect of variation of local saturation coupled model has bee n done for II t = T/80 and
level in the magnetic circuit with the current. B = O. It may be n D ted in this case that the
external circuit is a non-linear. On the other
It also may be noticed that the curve (3) is
(1)
hand, in presence of transient phen omenon, the
obtained solving equation with q>(t) Li(t) ;
(4). we
=
inductive nature of the circuit including the diode
in order to interpret the form of the curve
equati on (1)
leads to a higher peak of current which over saturnte
can develop by expressing the flux in
t e r'1lS of inductan ce as foll ows :
the magnetic circuit.

vet) Ri(t)+l t
�( )+ L(i) �(t )+ �(i) �. i/ibase
(t)
dt dt di ' dt 1 \
j'
0.35 -I 3
(10) 'I 1\ I·
Ii
I· II ·1
.1 il I I;
II II i' I
I
equation is � O.
II I1
The last term in this This
the fact that curve (4) fast e r
I j
I I
explains increases
than curve (3).

It may be noted that cutve (4) fits those (l) and

(2) for low level of current. To make the importance
of saturation obvious in such an application fig�re
3 shows the evolution of the current for different o.

final values of the latter (i v./R with v.

v, 0.75 v, 0.5 v and 0.25 v).
b ase
=
J J
=

� 1
Ii
\ �
jJ
',
1 Ii
i �I Ii
II I)
., il
-0.35 I·

Fig. 4. Steady state current wave form (switches

in postions 2 and 3. fig. 1) for different models
with i vi R, tb (line ar).
bas e = a se = L/R
1 - indirect coupled model without saturation
2 direct coupled model without saturation
3 - direct coupled model accounting for saturation ..

iIi
base
0:761

3:

Fig. 3. Evolution of current (switches in position

1 and 3 fig. 1) with ib s = v a d t = L/R
a e j/R n base
(linear) ; for v � v curve (1) v j 0.75 v curve
j
(2), Vj = 0.5 v curve (3) and V 0.25 v curve (4). 0.3
j

Figure 4 shows the results obtained with

a sinusoidal applied voltage (switches in position
2 and 3) with for the calculation II t = T/24 and
B o. In this case like in the last one the
results obtained with the indirect model (curve
1) and direct one (curve 2) neglecting saturation
are the same. Curve (3) shows the results obtained
from the direct coupled model taking int o account
the actual local saturation. On th b s figure we
n
can see the pronounced e f fect of the 3 harmonic. Fig. 5. Current wave form with a diode in the exter­
nal circuit (switches in postion 2 and 4 - fig.
1) ; with i (linear).
base = L/R
viR, t
base =
1 - indirect coupled model with inductance calculated
When switches are in position 2 and 4, figure
5 ShDWS the following results : curve (l) obtained
for a fixed level of saturation (classical analytical
using the indirect model (analytical solut ion)
solution)
with the coil inductance calculated fDr a saturatIon
2 - direct coupled model without magnetic saturation
3 - direct coupled model accounting for s atu ration.
level corresponding to i ; curve (2) obtained
with direct cDupled mo8�r neglecting
e
saturation
 277

CONCLUSION [4) F. Bouillault, A. Razek, "Dynamic model for

eddy current calculation in saturated electric
In the proposed model non-linearities in both machine", Trans. I.E.E.E., vol. MAG. 19, pp
magnetic and electric circuits have been considered 2639-2642, 1983.
in a directly coupled solution of the electromagnetic
equations. In treated application the comparaison [5J Y. N a kata, N. Takahashi, " Numer i cal analysis of
of results obtained from direct coupled model and transient magnetic field in capacitor-discharge
indirect coupled, confirm the necessity of usj.ng impulse magnetizer", Tran s . I.E.E.E. vol. MAG.
such a model in the case of strong coupling in 22, pp 526-528, 1986.
non-linear systems.
NOMEMCLATURE
REFERENCES
v(t) external voltage
[1) E.F . Fuchs, E.A. Erdelyi, "Non-linear theory R coil resistance
of turboalternotors", Trans I.E.E.E., vol P.A.S. 1 external leakage inductance (linear)
92, pp 592-599, 1973. i external circuit current
y(i) non linear voltage drop in the external
[2) B. Ancelle, J.L. Coulomb, B. Morel, "Implementa­ circuit
tion o f a computer aided design system for <I>(t) flux linkage
electromagnets in an industrial environment",
magnetic reluctivity
Trans. I.E.E.E., vol MAG. 16, pp 806-808, 1980.
excitation current density
[3) F. Piriou, A. Razek, "Calculation of saturated conductivity
inductances for numerical simulation of synchro­
y it
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pp 2628-2631, 1983.