IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 32, NO.
6, NOVEMBER 1996
Measurement of Losses and Saturated Permeability of
Saturable Cores Under Submicrosecond Saturation
H. Seki, S. Takemori, and T. Sato
Abstract-Two specific methods are introduced for obtaining
accurate losses and saturated permeability of saturable cores
under submicrosecond saturation. One employs an additional
inductor for accurate measurement of the losses. The other
minimizes stray inductance for accurate measurement of the
saturated permeability. The measured relative permeability of
Co-based amorphous cores rapidly drops to nearly 1.0. On the
other hand, ferrite cores need a much larger magnetic field than
that for Co-based amorphous cores in order to obtain the rel-
ative permeability of 1.0.
I. INTRODUCTION
AGNETIC pulse compression circuits (MPCs) and
magnetic assists are widely used in pulsed power
supplies for gas lasers such as excimer lasers [I] and cop-
per vapor lasers [2] in order to lengthen the lifetime of
their thyratron switches. In order to maximize the effi-
ciency of the pulsed power supply, the sum of the losses
of the MPC, magnetic assist, and thyratron switch should
be minimized.
Losses of saturable cores P c include hysteresis loss and
eddy-current loss. Pc in the MPC are written as follows
~31:
Pc
Pc = Vol-
Vol
where Vol is the volume of the saturable cores, po is the
permeability of the vacuum, prJ is the saturated relative
permeability of the saturable cores, p is the ratio of the
inductance of the saturable cores to the total inductance
of the: MPC, B, is the saturation magnetic flux density, SF
is the stacking factor, E, is the energy transmitted through
the saturable cores, and G is the compression ratio (or
gain) of pulsed current in the MPC. Here,
(3)
where A is the cross-sectional area and A, is the maxi-
mum magnetic flux swing of the saturable cores. PclVol
Manuscript received May 22, 1995; revised March 30, 1996.
The authors were with the Hitachi Research Laboratory during this work.
Present address: Power & Industrial Systems R & D Division, Hitachi Ltd.,
7-2-1 Olmika-cho, Hitachi-shi Ibaraki-ken, 319-12 Japan.
Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9464(96)04998-9.
0018-9464/96$05.00
525 I
is the losses per unit volume of the saturable cores where
vol includes interlaminar insulation. It does not represent
the losses per unit volume of magnetic materials.
When comparing the losses among different
cores, it is found from (1) and (2) that a parameter (Y which
is defined as
Pc
(4)
is a more appropriate measure than the losses per unit vol-
ume for the following reason. The volume of the magnetic
cores needed in the MPC is determined from (2). It is
found that small Bs, S, and large p, require large volume.
Moreover, from (l), a large volume results in large MPC
losses. Thus, even if a core material has small PclVol, it
will result in an MPC with large losses when the core
material has small B,,, SF and large prs. Therefore, a com-
parison of PclVoX is meaningless in designing the MPC.
On the other hand, (Y is proportional to the actual losses
generated in the MPC, and in addition, it is not dependent
on the dimensions and number of turns of the saturable
cores. Thus, a is an appropriate measure.
The losses of the MPC are also proportional to llp.
This is explained below briefly. The pulse width of the
current flowing through the saturable inductor is in pro-
portion to (LtotalC)12 where C is the capacitance which
stores the electrical energy within the MPC, and Ltotal=
+
Lstray L, where estray is the stray inductance in the circuit
where the pulsed current flows, and L, is the saturated
inductance of the saturable inductor. Thus, when Lstrayis
large, L, becomes very small because (LtotalC)12 is given
in advance. For a constant applied voltage V,, L, is writ-
ten as popL,(V,7/B,)2/Vol, which is obviously equal to
pop,.,N&4/Z where T is time-to-saturation, Z is the mean
magnetic path length, and NT is the number of turns of the
saturable inductor. Thus, small L, leads to large core vol-
ume. Again, this results in large MPC losses. Here, p is
defined as p = Ls/Ltotal.Although /3 is related to the MPC
losses, it is a matter of the structural design of the MPC.
Thus, should not be included in the comparison between
the saturable cores.
Because theoretical treatment of the losses per unit vol-
ume and saturated permeability of the cores is very diffi-
cult at present, they should be measured in advance to get
a good design for the pulsed power supply. These mea-
surements are accompanied by measurements of core di-
0 1996 IEEE
5252 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 32, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 1996

mensions and the maximum magnetic flux swing. Mea-

sured losses per unit volume have been reported in several
papers [4]-[6]. Reference [4] introduces a loss factor
which is defined the same as a of (4), except that the
saturated permeability is omitted. F-rom (2), however, the Hc Hmax
saturated permeability is seen to be essential for exact
evaluation of the losses of the saturable cores. As far as Fig. 1. Schematic of a B . SF - H curve.
the authors know, only a relative permeability around 40
has been reported for an Fe-base amorphous material [7].
In addition, in order to measure the losses accurately, se-
lection of appropriate circuit parameters is important, in
the authors experience. However, procedures for deter- ._____
.._.._._--._...
mination of the circuit parameters have not been de-
scribed anywhere. ..I VSR ISR R
In this paper, measurement methods of both the losses --- Thyratron
and saturated permeability are described in Section 11. switch
c

Following this, the measurement apparatus is described Th ratron driver

in Section 111. Then measured losses and saturated perme-
(a) Cb)
ability of several saturable cores are described, and a
comparison of the saturable cores is made by using a in Fig. 2. The measurement circuits of the cores. (a) Magnetic assist. (b)
MPC.
Section IV.

11. MEASUREMENT METHODS impedance of the saturable inductors during the unsatu-
ration period is more than 5 C2 in this experiment. (The
Quantities such as the maximum flux swing, the losses
saturable inductor can be considered to be a nonlinear re-
per unit volume of the saturable cores, and the saturated
sistance [8] .) Thus, R is negligible, and the peak of ZsR is
permeability are important in designing the MPC. They
limited mainly by the losses of the saturable cores, its
-
are determined from measured B SF - H curves. In this
pulse width, and the charging voltage.
paper, B * SF - H curves are used instead of the usual B
First, the saturable cores are reverse saturated (point P
- H curves. The reason is explained as follows. When
comparing several saturable cores, including amorphous in Fig. 1) by the reset circuit. Then the capacitors C1 are
cores and ferrite cores, in order to design the pulsed power charged by the charging unit when the thyratron switch is
supply, the B - H curve is not useful because the stacking open. Although the charging current flows in the saturable
inductor Ls/Lu, because its direction is the same as that
factor S, of amorphous cores is less than 1.0, and SF is
of the reset circuit, the saturable cores remain reverse sat-
not the same for each saturable core product (or material).
urated. After the thyratron is turned on by the thyratron
Since the B . SF - H curve indicates the true performance
driver, a constant voltage for Fig. 2(a) or (1 - cos ut)
of the saturable cores, it is used throughout this paper. A
voltage for Fig. 2(b) is applied to the saturable inductors
typical appearance of the B * SF - H curve obtained in
because the impedance of the saturable inductors is much
the MPC is shown in Fig. 1 where Hmax is the maximum
larger than the impedances of L and C,. Then the cores
magnetic field strength and Hc is the threshold field below
are saturated (point Q in Fig. 1). P c are obtained by time-
which most of the energy is dissipated. When measuring
integrating the product of measured current ZsR and volt-
the losses, accurate measurement of Hc is necessary.
age V,R, that is,
Thus, Hmax should be suppressed by adding an inductor
to the measurement circuit. On the other hand, when mea-
suring the saturated permeability, accurate measurements
of B * SF and H in the region where Hc << H < Hmax
PC = 1 VsR(t)rsR(t) dt. (5)
Parameters of the measurement circuits are determined
are necessary. Therefore, two methods are needed for the according to the procedures described below, taking the
measurement of the losses and saturated permeability. example of Fig. 2(a). In order to saturate the cores,

A . A Method to Measure Losses of the Cores Pc < Ec (6)

The measurement circuits are shown in Fig. 2(a) and
(b). They are a magnetic assist measurement circuit and
an MPC measurement circuit, respectively, where Lu is
the unsaturated inductance, Ls is the saturated inductance
of the saturable inductors, and L indicates the additional
inductor in the circuit, with L << Lu. L is the small stray
inductance. R indicates the resistance in the conductors
which is less than several hundredths of an ohm. The
must be satisfied where Ec is the energy stored initially in
the capacitor C1, and Pc are the losses of the cores as-
sumed at a time-to-saturation 7,. Since vertical resolution
of a storagescope is finite,
Hmax < kHc (7)
is necessary where k is a constant ( > 1). For example, in
the case of a Tektronix 2440A storagescope which has a
SEKI et ai.: MEASUREMENT OF LOSSES AND SATURATED PERMEABIILITY OF SATURABLE CORES 5253

horizontal resolution of 1024 words and vertical resolu- the measured losses, Hmax becomes much larger than Hc
tion of 8 b, k of less than 5 is recommended. In addition, or the horizontal accuracy becomes poor. Then, the range
because horizontal resolution of the storagescope is also of L and C is recalculated by repeating Procedure 2.
finite, if the difference of the pulse duration of the current
ZsR between the unsaturation and saturation periods is too B. A Method to Measure Saturated Permeability
large, accuracy will be degraded. That is, The measured permeability p of the core is obtained
from
- 1< - <7,k
k rs ABSR
P = z
is necessary, where r, is the pulse width of the current
after saturation and k is a constant (> 1). Again, for the: where ABsR is described as
Tektronix 2440A storagescope, k of less than 10 is rec-
ommended. The procedures are summarized as follows. vSRAt
ABSR= (17)
Procedure I : A charging voltage Vc at the time-to-sat- A
~

uration rs is determined as
where A, is a sarnpling time interval of the storagescope
used. AH is described as
AISR
AH = ~

while neglecting the losses of the saturable inductors, and 1

assuming the number of turns is one. Because of the losses
where I is the averaged magnetic path length, and AIsR is
of the saturable cores, (9) is an approximation. If the
the difference in current within the sampling time inter-
waveforms of ZsR and VsRare found to be inadequate after
val. Since VsR includes the voltage applied to a stray in-
the determination of the circuit parameters by Procedure
ductor, p of (16) includes the influence of the stray in-
2, then the charging voltage is readjusted.
ductance.
Procedure 2: Then, losses of the saturable cores are
Then from (16), the measured permeability after satu-
assumed as Pc. Since r, = .rr((Ls + L)C)i2,the peak of
ration p S l is written as
the current Zp is written as

where V is the voltage just before saturation defined as (19)

V = 4;(; cvc2 - Pc) .

where AB is the change of the magnetic flux density in the
magnetic materials in the saturable cores, A.psTis the
change of the magnetic flux outside the magnetic mate-
rials, pS is the saturated permeability of the magnetic ma-
The losses per unit volume Pc/Vol are written as terials, and psi and ps depend on rs and H.
Next, when the cores to be measured are intentionally
-Pc- - 2HcBs.
Vol removed, the parameters are written as follows. Changes
of the magnetic flux density in the place where the mag-
Since Hmax = Zp/l and Vol = A * I , from (10) and (12), netic materials were placed are denoted as ABO. Since
(7) is rewritten as permeability of the air and interlaminar insulations is re-
I garded as p o , the permeability pso obtained from the mea-
kPc surement is written as
<-
L + Ls 2B,JV
Equation (8) is rewritten as

ka
. < m C < % 7r (14)
From (19) and (20), the permeability ,usis obtained as
In addition, as mentioned before, L << Lu, i.e.,
PS(rr, = PO + ps1(7s, H ) - Pso. (21)
2BsA2S%
L << ~
A coaxial container is used with a one-tum winding be-
Pc
cause any difference in windings between (19) and (20)
is also assumed. should be eliminated in order to measure the saturated
After the determination of L and C from (13) and (14), permeability accurately. In addition, (PSI - ~ S O ) / ~ S I
if the: assumed losses are found to be very different from should be as large as possible. That is, the measurement
5254 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 32, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 1996

apparatus must be designed so that the stray inductance is

minimized.

111. EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS

A schematic of the core testing apparatus of the MPC
type is shown in Fig. 3. When C, is removed, Fig. 3 be-
comes a magnetic assist type. The apparatus is folded at
a right angle between the switch and the cores for com-
pactness. A thyratron switch (EEV 1636, 36 kV max) is Fig. 3. Schematics of the measurement apparatus.
used. It is immersed in oil coolant. Other parts are placed
in air. TDK's ceramic capacitors or Shizuki Electric coax-
ial capacitors are used. The operating ranges of the testing TABLE I
apparatus are: voltage 0-35 kV, capacitance 0-80 nF for PARAMETERS
OF THE CORES

the TDK capacitors, and voltage 0-2.5 kV, capacitance matenals outer diameter(") inner diameter(") height(")
#1 Co-based amorphous 141.5 121.0 25.4
0-20 pF for the Shizuki Electric capacitors. The capaci- #2 Co-based amorphous 140.0 120.0 25.4
#3 Co and Fe-based amorphous 140 120.0 25.4
tors are easily exchanged. Since inductance around the #4 Mn-Zn femte 140.3 115.1 20.0
thyratron is large, the magnetic compression circuit is used
for measuring the saturated permeability of the saturable
cores. For voltage measurements, a Tektronix P6015 or
Japan Hidrazine P-100G probe is used. For current mea-
surements, a Physics International PIM-220-10-5 or Pea-
son l1OA current monitor is used.

IV. RESULTS
The losses of the cores and the permeability near satu-
ration were measured by using the methods and apparatus OO
H [Ah] 2x103
described in Sections I1 and 111. Parameters of the cores
Fig. 4 . Examples of B . S, - H curves. 7, = 450 ns for core 1, 7, = 500
are listed in Table I. In order to avoid toroidal effects [9], ns for core 2, r , = 570 ns for core 3, and 7, = 470 ns for core 4
small (outer diameter - inner diameter)/(inner diameter)
cores were used.

A . Losses of the Cores G-E 1$

1

Measured B . S, - H curves of each core are shown

in Fig. 4. The origin in Fig. 4 is shifted to point P in Fig.
1. Dependence of the losses on time-to-saturation is shown
+-
._
in Fig. 5 . C
2
L

e,
Q
B. Saturated Permeability u)

u)
The relative permeability pr of each core is shown in 0
-I
Fig. 6. The relative permeability pr of the amorphous
cores rapidly drops to nearly 1.0. On the other hand, p,.
of the ferrite cores is nearly 1.7. Because this means that zs [nsl
full saturation takes a much higher N for the ferrite cores, Fig. 5. Dependence of losses of the cores on time-to-saturation. e : MPC
of 1, V: Assist of 1 , 0.MPC of 2, 0: MPC of 3, A : MPC of 4.
in the MPC design, p,. = 1.0 cannot be assumed for the
ferrite cores in contrast to the amorphous cores.

V. DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY

Sufficient data were obtained for comparing the losses

of the different cores. As mentioned in the Introduction,
a should be used for comparing the losses of the saturable
cores, rather than the losses per unit volume. That is, ...?.................
small 01 cores are favorable. P,,~, PclVol, A+/A, and a of
each core are listed in Table 11. It is found that cores 1
and 2 have small losses. This comparison was realized by Fig. 6. Relative permeability of the cores near saturation. 7, = 450 ns for
measuring the saturated permeabilities . core 1 , r! = 440 ns for core 2, r , = 500 ns for core 3, r , = 330 ns for
As a matter of course, not only a , but also cost-effec- core 4.
SEKI t't ai.: MEASUREMENT OF LOSSES A N D SATURATED PERMEABILITY OF SATURABLE CORES 5255

TABLE I1 p, that the permeability of the Co-based amorphous cores

COMPARISON
OF p,,, P d V o l , A*,,, AND (Y
- rapidly drops to nearly 1.0. On the other hand, ferrite
prs Pc/Voe [j/d AQ/A resla]
a [J/m3. T2] cores need much larger magnetic field than that for the
- Co-based amorphous cores in order to obtain the relative
-
#1 -1.0 125 0.71 -248
-
#2 -1.0 227 1.0 -227 permeability of 1.0. The losses of the cores were com-
-
#3 -1.0 1500 2.2 -3 10 pared by using a parameter a! which included prs.
-
#4 -1.7 75 0.5 -510
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are important in designing the MPC. For example, when Kameyama, G. Yamamura, K. Kotani, and H. Sugawara, Rev. Sci.
a small MPC is required, then the parameter p,.J(B,SF)2 Instrum., vol. 65, p. 323, 1994.
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