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The purpose of this paper is to find out how to model iron losses in electrical machines accurately and efficiently.

The starting point was a previously developed vector hysteresis model that was designed and incorporated into the 2D time‐stepping finite‐element (FE) simulation of induction machines. The developed approach here is a decoupling between the vector hysteresis model and the 2D FE model of the machine. The huge time consumption of the incorporated hysteresis model required some new approach to make the model computationally efficient. This is dealt with through an a posteriori use of the vector hysteresis model.

In this research, it was found that the vector hysteresis model, although used in an a posteriori scheme is able to accurately predict the iron losses as far as these losses are small enough not to affect the other operation characteristics of the machine.

The research methods reported in this paper deal mainly with induction machines. The methods should be applied for transient operations of the induction machines as well as for other types of machines. The fact that the iron losses do not affect very much the operation characteristics of the machine is based on the fact that the air gap field plays a major role in these machines. The method cannot be applied to other magnetic devices where the iron losses are the main loss component.

The paper is of practical value for designers of electrical machines, who use FE programs. The methods presented here allow them to use a different FE package to simulate the machine and own routines (based on the presented methods) to predict the iron losses without loss of accuracy and in a reasonably short time.

The purpose is to implement and compare different approaches for modelling the magnetostriction phenomenon in iron sheet used in rotating electrical machines.

In the force-based approach, the magnetostriction is modelled as a set of equivalent forces, which produce the same deformation of the material as the magnetostriction strains. These forces among other magnetic forces are computed from the solution of the finite element (FE) field computation and used as loads for the displacement-based mechanical FE analysis. In the strain-based approach, the equivalent magnetostrictive forces are not needed and an energy-based model is used to define magnetomechanically coupled constitutive equations of the material. These equations are then space-discretised and solved with the FE method for the magnetic field and the displacements.

It is found that the equivalent forces method can reproduce the displacements and strains of the structure but it results in erroneous stress states. The energy-based method has the ability to reproduce both the stress and strains correctly; thus enabling the analysis of stress-dependent quantities such as the iron losses and the magnetostriction itself.

The investigated methods do not account for hysteresis and other dynamic effects. They also require long computation times. With the available computing resources, the computation time does not present any problem as far as they are not used in everyday design procedures but the modelling of dynamic effect needs to be elaborated.

The developed and implemented methods are verified with measurements and simulation experiments and applied to as complex structure as an electrical machine. The problems related to the different approaches are investigated and explained through simulations.

The horizontal rotational single-sheet tester (RSST) suffers from weaknesses such as the reduced size of test samples, measurement disturbances due to magnetic flux leakage and nonhomogeneity of field in the measurement area. Although the vertical RSST allows to overcome the first two aforementioned drawbacks, the heterogeneity of the field in the test sample remains an issue. In addition, there is still a lack of device standardization to ensure test repeatability, as already is well established with the Epstein frame. This paper aims to investigate the influence of several parameters on the field homogeneity in the test sample.

A fully 3D finite element model of a vertical RSST is developed and used to perform a sensibility study on several geometrical parameters.

The influence of several parameters on the field homogeneity in the test sample, such as the geometrical dimensions of the yokes, the presence or not of holes drilled inside the test sample for B-coil placement as well as the size of the H-coils and B-coils, is addressed.

It is expected that this study will contribute to the optimization and standardization vertical RSSTs.

The modeling of magnetostrictive effects is a topic of intensive research. The authors' goal is the precise modeling and numerical simulation of the magnetic field and resulting mechanical vibrations caused by magnetostriction along the joint regions of electric transformers.

The authors apply the finite element (FE) method to efficiently solve the arising coupled system of partial differential equations describing magnetostriction. Hereby, they fully take the anisotropic behavior of the material into account, both in the computation of the nonlinear electromagnetic field as well as the induced magnetostrictive strains. To support their material models, the authors measure the magnetic as well as the mechanical hysteresis curves of the grain-oriented electrical steel sheets with different orientations (w.r.t the rolling direction). From these curves they then extract for each orientation the corresponding commutation curve, so that the hysteretic behavior is simplified to a nonlinear one.

The numerical simulations show strong differences both in the magnetic field as well as mechanical vibrations when comparing this newly developed anisotropic model to an isotropic one, which just uses measured curves in rolling direction of the steel sheets. Therefore, a realistic modeling of the magnetostrictive behavior, especially for grain-oriented electrical steel as used in transformers, needs to take into account the anisotropic material behavior.

The authors have developed an enhanced material model for describing magnetostrictive effects along the joint regions of electric transformers, which fully considers the anisotropic material behavior. This model has been integrated into a FE scheme to numerically simulate the mechanical vibrations in transformer cores caused by magnetostriction.

The purpose of this paper is to present a Preisach model to simulate the vector hysteresis properties of ferromagnetic materials.

The vector behavior has been studied at low frequency applying a single‐sheet tester with a round‐shaped specimen, and the locus of the magnetic flux density vector has been controlled by a digital measurement system. An inverse vector Preisach hysteresis model has been developed and identified by using the measured data.

Finally, the inverse model has been inserted into a finite element procedure through the combination of the fixed point technique and the reduced magnetic scalar potential formulation. The developed single‐sheet tester measurement system has been simulated. The applicability of the realized measurement system as well as the developed model has been proven by comparing measured and simulated results.

The identification technique is original, based on a previous work of the author.

The simulation of eddy currents in laminated iron cores by the finite element method (FEM) is of great interest in the design of electrical devices. Modeling each laminate by finite elements leads to extremely large nonlinear systems of equations impossible to solve with present computer resources reasonably. The purpose of this study is to show that the multiscale finite element method (MSFEM) overcomes this difficulty.

A new MSFEM approach for eddy currents of laminated nonlinear iron cores in three dimensions based on the magnetic vector potential is presented. How to construct the MSFEM approach in principal is shown. The MSFEM with the Biot–Savart field in the frequency domain, a higher-order approach, the time stepping method and with the harmonic balance method are introduced and studied.

Various simulations demonstrate the feasibility, efficiency and versatility of the new MSFEM.

The novel MSFEM solves true three-dimensional eddy current problems in laminated iron cores taking into account of the edge effect.

The purpose of this paper is to optimize the stator slot geometry of a high-speed electrical machine, which is used as an assist for a turbocharger. Meanwhile, the suitability of the Particle Swarm algorithm for such a problem is to be tested.

The starting point of the optimization is an existing design, for which the Particle Swarm algorithm is applied in conjunction with the transient time-stepping 2D finite element method.

It is found that regardless of its stochastic nature, the Particle Swarm work well for the optimization of electrical machines. The optimized design resulted in an increase of the slot area and increase of the iron loss, which was compensated by a dramatic decrease in the Joule losses.

The optimization was concentrated on the stator design whereas the rotor dimensioning was carried out withing the compressor and turbine design.

A turbocharger with electric assist is designed optimized and manufactured. The Particle Swarm algorithm is shown to be very stable.

The purpose of this paper is to find out how uncertainties in the characterization of magnetic materials propagate through identification and numerical simulation to the computation of iron losses in electrical machines.

The probabilistic uncertainties in the iron losses are modelled with the spectral approach using chaos polynomials. The Sobol indices are used for the global sensitivity analysis. The machine is modelled with a 2D finite element method and the iron losses are computed with a previously developed accurate method.

The uncertainties propagate in different ways to the different components of losses, i.e. eddy current, hysteresis, and excess losses. The propagation is also different depending on the investigated region of the machine, i.e. Stator or rotor teeth, yokes, tooth tips.

The method does not account for uncertainties related to the manufacturing process, which might result in even larger variability.

A major implication of the findings is that the identification of iron loss parameters at low frequencies does not affect the loss variability. The identification with high-frequency measurement is very important for the rotor tooth tips. The variability in the excess loss parameters is of low impact.

The presented results are of importance for the magnetic material manufacturers and the electrical machine designers. The manufacturers can plan the measurement and identification procedures as to minimize the output variability of the parameters. The designers of the machine can use the result and the presented procedures to estimate the variability of their design.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a chaotic harmony search (CHS) approach based on the chaotic Zaslavskii map to parameters identification of Jiles-Atherton vector hysteresis model.

In laminated magnetic cores when the magnetic flux rotates in the lamination plane, one observes an increase in the magnetic losses. The magnetization in these regions is very complex needing a vector model to analyze and predict its behavior. The vector Jiles-Atherton hysteresis model can be employed in rotational flux modeling. The vector Jiles-Atherton model needs a set of five parameters for each space direction taken into account. In this context, a significant amount of research has already been undertaken to investigate the application of metaheuristics in solving difficult engineering optimization problems. Harmony search (HS) is a derivative-free real parameter optimization metaheuristic algorithm, and it draws inspiration from the musical improvisation process of searching for a perfect state of harmony. In this paper, a CHS approach based on the chaotic Zaslavskii map is proposed and evaluated.

The proposed CHS presents an efficient strategy to improve the search performance in preventing premature convergence to local minima when compared with the classical HS algorithm. Numerical comparisons with results using classical HS, genetic algorithms (GAs), particle swarm optimization (PSO), and evolution strategies (ES) demonstrated that the performance of the CHS is promising in parameters identification of Jiles-Atherton vector hysteresis model.

This paper presents an efficient CHS approach applied to parameters identification of Jiles-Atherton vector hysteresis model.

Recent investigations on magnetic properties of non-oriented (NO) steel sheets enhance the comprehension of the magnetic anisotropy behaviour of widely employed electrical sheets. The concept of energy/coenergy density can be employed to model these magnetic properties. However, it usually presents an implicit form which requires an iterative process. The purpose of this paper is to develop an analytical model to consider these magnetic properties with an explicit formulation in order to ease the computations.

From rotational measurements, the anhysteretic curves are interpolated in order to extract the magnetic energy density for different directions and amplitudes of the magnetic flux density. Furthermore, the analytical representation of this energy is suggested based on statistical distribution which aims to minimize the intrinsic energy of the material. The model is finally validated by comparing measured and computed values of the magnetic field strength.

The proposed model is based on an analytical formulation of the energy depending on the components of the magnetic flux density. This formulation is composed of three Gumbel distributions. Every functional parameters of energy density is formulated with only four parameters which are calculated by fitting the energy extracted from measurements. Finally, the proposed model is validated by comparing the computation and the measurements of 9

loci for NO steel sheets at 10 Hz. The proposed analytical model shows good agreements with an average relative error of 27 per cent.

The paper presents an original analytical method to model magnetic anisotropy for NO electrical sheets. With this analytical formulation, the determination of H does not require any iterative process as it is usually the case with this energy method coupled with implicit function. This method can be easily incorporated in finite element method since it does not require any extra iterative process.