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COMPELThe International Journal for Computation and Mathematics in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Vol. 2, No. 2. 35-39 1983 BOOLE PRESS LIMITED
Abstract. Using an integrodifferential approach to steady-state skin effect problems, the current density
distribution in straight flat conductors is solved by the finite-element method. The approach takes into
account a combination of one-dimensional finite elements corresponding to the flat conductors and
triangular finite elements for the remaining domain outside conductors. The results obtained for a flat
conductor placed inside a ferromagnetic medium are compared with analytical solutions provided by finite
Fourier transforms.
As a final output, besides current density distribution, one can calculate parameters useful to designers
such a a.c. resistance and reactance of the straight flat conductors.
1. INTRODUCTION
The problems of skin effect in electrical machines and transformers are very
important, especially now when new design concepts and complicated geometries are
necessary for a better adjustment to the new technology. Many papers have been
produced on these topics and an excellent list of references is given in [1].
In this paper, the finite-element solution of steady-state skin-effect problems in
straight flat conductors inside ferromagnetic materials is presented. The approach
uses an integrodifferential finite element formulation [1, 2] in terms of vector
magnetic potential which for the straight conductors has only one component.
The application selected to illustrate the method is a fiat conductor placed in a
ferromagnetic medium with a winding made of continuous sheets. The results
obtained for current density by the finite-element method were compared with
analytical results provided by finite Fourier transform [3].
The finite-element approach has the advantage that it can be applied to any
arbitrary shape of the conductor, the method not being restricted by the geometry as
usually happens when dealing with analytical techniques.
36
equipotential line for the vector magnetic potential. The magnetic material of the
transformer core is assumed to be of infinite magnetic permeability in order to
simplify the boundary conditions of the vector magnetic potential.
As the straight flat conductor of width g is considered infinitely long, the magnetic
vector potential A(, x, y) and the complex current density J(, y) have only
components on the z direction.
The system of equations to be solved in terms of the vector magnetic potential is
[2]
-2A = 0
(2)
(3)
(4)
37
3. FINITE-ELEMENT APPROACH
The general functional associated with eqs. (1) and (2) for the boundary conditions
(3) and (4) is [2]
where
In eq. (7), (A)2 is the integrand of two integrals: first integral extends over the
region S (divided in triangular finite elements), while the second integral corresponds to the flat conductor (divided in linear finite elements).
For the region outside the straight conductor, the vector magnetic potential can be
approximated in each triangular finite element by a linear combination of interpolation polynomials as follows [1]:
38
For the elements located on the straight conductor only one-dimensional elements
have been used. Their generic trial function is given by
A possible division into triangular and linear finite elements is shown in Fig. 2.
The average value of the vector magnetic potential can be calculated as
where NS is the total number of linear finite elements, NC is the total number of
vertices located on the linear elements, Le is the length of a generic linear element
and i are coefficients obtained by integration along each element.
The trial functions (8) and (9) and the average value (10) are replaced into the
functional and the derivatives with respect to node potentials are set to zero. As a
result of this operation, the final system of equations is
where NTR is the total number of triangular finite elements and N is the total
number of vertices where the vector magnetic potential is unknown. The above
system of complex equations has the following general form:
[S1 + j 0 S 2 ] A = B
(12)
The solution obtained by the finite-element method has been compared with an
analytical solution established by a finite Fourier transform [3] for the following
geometrical dimensions: h = 0.52 m, b = 0.5 m, g = 0.001 m, L1 = 0.0109 m and L2 =
0.052 m.
The results of the normalized current density for a frequency of 60 Hz are given in
Table 1.
Once the vector magnetic potential is calculated, other field quantities, such as
magnetic field H and electric field E, can be evaluated. They can be used to calculate
39
Table 1
Normalized current densities obtained by finite element
method and finite Fourier transform
y/h
Finite Element
Fourier transform
0.000
0.192
0.384
0.576
0.768
0.869
0.961
0.9613 - j0.0461
1.0117 - j0.0448
0.0101 - j0.0437
1.0091 - j0.0378
1.0008 + j0.0234
0.9691 + j0.1197
0.9315 + j0.1610
j0.0421
j0.0432
j0.0431
j0.0362
j0.0242
j0.1134
j0.1590
the design parameters a.c. resistance and a.c. reactance per unit length, defined by
In eqs. (14) and (15) the integral of the complex Poynting vector is taken through a
cylindrical surface which contains the unit length of the straight conductor.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The integrodifferential finite-element method has been applied to the skin-effect
problem in straight conductors situated inside ferromagnetic media. The results
obtained by this method are in agreement with those obtained by other methods,
such as finite Fourier transform.
A similar formulation can be used for the transient skin-effect problems in fiat
conductors, in which situation the final solution is obtained by solving a differential
system of equations, instead of an algebraic one.
REFERENCES
[1] A. K. Konrad, Integrodifferential finite element formulation of two-dimensional steady-state skineffect problems, IEEE Trans. Magn. MAG-18(1) (1982) 284-292.
[2] G. Costache, Calculation of eddy-currents and skin-effect in nonmagnetic conductors by the finite
element method, Rev. Roum. Sci. Techn. Electrotechn. & Energ. 21(3) (1976) 357-363.
[3] G. Costache, Skin-effect in straight flat conductors placed in a ferromagnetic medium, Rev. Roum.
Sci. Techn. Electrotechn. & Energ. 21(2) (1976) 175-180.