Comparative Evaluation of Electrical and Calorimetric Methods to Estimate Core Loss in Powder Cores

Abstract

The utilization of powder cores for many power electronic applications has drawn a significant amount of attention owing to their attractive magnetic properties. However, because of their low relative permeability characteristics, a precise measurement of the core loss is very difficult to obtain. Imprecise estimation of the core loss may lead to an inaccurate thermal design of power converters. Measuring and calculating the accurate value of the core loss allows the circuit designer to design a more efficient system. This paper discusses the revalidation of electrical measurement by comparing the electrical method with the calorimetric method in powder cores. The calorimetric method is one of the most promising methods to accurately measure the core loss; however, it is time consuming. A difference less than 10% has been reported for the core loss measurement error while comparing the electrical method and the calorimetric method in various conditions. These results indicate that the electrical method using the B-H analyzer is effective for measuring the core losses in some conditions for powder cores. Along with the theoretical discussion, simulation and experimental tests are also conducted.