Investigation and Prediction of High-Frequency Iron Loss in Lamination Steels Driven by Voltage-Source Inverters Using Wide-Bandgap Switches

The availability of wide-bandgap (WBG) power switches makes it possible to excite electric machines with much higher pulsewidth modulation (PWM) switching frequencies. This article experimentally characterizes the magnetic and iron loss properties of lamination steels over a wide range of PWM frequencies and magnetization states excited by a voltage-source inverter using GaN-based WBG switches. With the collected hysteresis loop and iron loss data, a new frequency-interconnected dynamic Jiles-Atherton (J-A) model has been developed explicitly for PWM-induced iron loss analysis. Experiments have been conducted to verify the model prediction accuracy over a broad range of operating conditions. The proposed model has been subsequently integrated with a dynamic hysteresis model devoted to fundamental field iron loss estimation, providing an accurate and efficient tool for total iron loss estimation during PWM voltage excitation using high-frequency WBG devices. This article includes an investigation of the impact of elevated fundamental frequencies and field amplitudes on the total iron loss including comparisons between analytical predictions and experimental test results.