Analysis of Skin Effect in Single Wire Resistance by Finite Element Methods

Efficiency of the power converters is an important specification that determines their success on the market, being the losses a critical part that influences greatly the operation capabilities of the converter. To analyse with the required precision, the losses of magnetic component, both magnetic core and electric winding losses, usually Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis is carried out. The eddy currents effects are divided primordially in skin and proximity effects. The attention is focused on single wire alone case to better understanding the skin effect influence, proposing an improved version of the equation for determining the series resistance of a single wire. It also introduces a mathematical approximation to calculate the conductor resistance for any operation frequency. All the theoretical assumptions and conclusions are supported by numerical simulations using Finite Element Method analysis.