Definition and application of magnetic material metrics in modeling and optimization

The modeling of magnetic components for use in electrical circuit simulation requires that the core material be accurately characterized. This paper investigates a method of extracting parameters to model the hysteresis behavior of magnetic core materials and optimizing them to achieve accurate results during circuit simulation. Metrics are defined to measure specific features of the behavior of both the core magnetic material and the magnetic component, such as a transformer. This paper presents a method of applying these metrics for the purposes of comparison and optimization and demonstrates the method using measured results and corresponding simulations. It compares the effectiveness of a weighted metrics function with that of a least squares goal function for the purpose of optimization. This paper suggests modifications to the original Jiles-Atherton model to improve the ability of the model to more accurately represent the behavior of magnetic materials during saturation