IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 16, NO.
3, MAY 2001
A Lumped Winding Model for Use in Transformer
Models for Circuit Simulation
Peter G. Blanken, Senior Member, IEEE
AbstractA lumped circuit model is derived of a winding in
a multiwinding transformer. The model is intended to be used
in transformer models for circuit simulation using electrical-net-
work simulators. A hybrid (partly electrical, partly magnetic)
modeling approach is adopted in which magnetic components are
described using the capacitance-permeance analogy instead of the
widespread resistance-reluctance analogy. The network correctly
models energy storage and power dissipation due to dc series wire
resistance and to eddy current losses, independent of the way of
excitation of the winding (electrical and/or magnetic). All compo-
nent values are frequency independent and are parameterized by
geometrical parameters, winding data and material parameters.
The mathematical continued-fraction approximation technique is
applied to derive approximating circuits to model eddy current
losses. A fourth-order circuit shows acceptably small errors up to
a frequency of about a factor of 1500 above the frequency at which
eddy-current losses become apparent. The model is applied in a
six-layer two-winding transformer model. Calculations both in the
frequency domain and in the time domain show good agreement
with measurements.
Index TermsEddy currents, modeling, proximity effect, simu-
lation, skin effect, stray inductance, transformer.
I. INTRODUCTION
P OWER efficiency of electronic equipment is of increasing
importance, especially in portable battery-powered equip-
ment. Switched-mode power supplies are commonly applied.
The design and optimization of switched-mode supplies,
containing inductive components, passive components and in-
tegrated circuits is greatly eased by circuit simulation. Modern
integrated circuit (IC) design even is hardly possible without
circuit simulation. Models of inductive components can be
used not only for circuit or system optimization, but also to
support the design of the inductive components themselves,
even before they actually are made in hardware.
The following requirements can be set to models of inductive
components. The models should not only include first-order ef-
fects like magnetizing inductances, stray inductances, inductive
coupling etc., but also second-order phenomena such as capaci-
tive coupling, hysteresis losses, eddy current losses and mag-
netic saturation to an extent that simulations agree well with
measurements. The models should be applicable for analyses
both in the frequency domain and in the time domain. Compo-
nent values should thus be frequency independent and prefer-
Manuscript received April 18, 2000; revised January 9, 2001. Recommended
by Associate Editor K. Ngo.
The author is with the Mixed-Signal Circuits and Systems Group, Philips
Research Laboratories, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (e-mail: peter.g.blanken@
philips.com).
Publisher Item Identifier S 0885-8993(01)04033-9.
08858993/01$10.00 2001 IEEE
445
ably should have physically meaningful values such as descrip-
tions of geometry, winding data and material parameters. The
circuit topology of the model also should preferably be physi-
cally meaningful.
In this paper the above-mentioned requirements have been
met by adopting the following techniques. Difficulties with cal-
culations of power dissipation and thermal noise, which show
up when using the widespread resistance-reluctance analogy,
are avoided by using the capacitance-permeance analogy, in-
troduced by Buntenbach [1]. The ac hysteresis of the perme-
ability of the magnetic material can be modeled conveniently
by adopting a relaxation description [2]. Modeling of magnetic
remanence is not addressed in this paper. The modeling of par-
asitic electrical capacitances is best done in a way described by
Duerdoth [3].
Several authors have addressed the modeling of energy
storage and/or the eddy current losses in the winding area
[4][10]. In all cases it was assumed either that the net current
through the winding is zero or that the external magnetic field
is zero. The stored energy thus is correctly modeled for some
excitations, but incorrectly for other excitations. As in general
it is unknown in advance whether a winding in a multiwinding
transformer is excited by electrical current through the winding
itself, and/or by external magnetic fields or fluxes, these
assumptions in general are not valid. In this paper a generic
equivalent circuit of one winding in a multiwinding transformer
is derived, which is independent of the way of excitation.
The presented circuit describes the electromagnetic relations
leading to magnetic energy storage and power dissipation due
to dc series resistance and to eddy currents (skin effect and
proximity effect) in the windings.
Eddy currents cause phenomena with magnitudes propor-
tional to , which cannot be modeled by a finite-order circuit
for all frequencies. Dallago et al. report a first-order approx-
imation [9]. However, the validity of the circuit is limited to
three or four times the frequency at which eddy current effects
become apparent. Besides, the resistance-reluctance analogy is
used, implying problems with calculations of power dissipation
and thermal noise. De Lon and Semlyen report electrical
higher-order approximating circuits using fitting techniques
[10], [11]. However, their approach produces fitting errors at
relatively low frequencies. In this paper finite-order circuits are
derived that prove valid up to a sufficiently high frequency.
In Section II, the capacitance-permeance analogy will be re-
visited. In Section III, the network topology is presented, based
on the possible flux paths in a multiwinding transformer. It is
shown that an electromagnetic threeport is needed to model
a winding. In Section IV, network theory is applied to derive
446
a generic circuit with four degrees of freedom, which is able
to model the winding. In Section V, the winding layout is in-
troduced and converted into a sheet layer winding design to
reduce the three-dimensional (3-D) problem to a one-dimen-
sional (1-D) problem for calculation purposes. In Section VI,
the resultant winding voltage is presented as a function of
exciting current through the winding and of magnetic field and
flux around the winding. In Section VII, an equivalent circuit is
derived. It will be shown that finite-order circuits are unable to
correctly model the behavior for all frequencies. Application of
the mathematical continued-fraction approximation technique
in Section VIII allows for the derivation of an approximating
circuit in Section IX. In Section X, the derived approximating
circuit is experimentally verified. Conclusions are drawn in Sec-
tion XI.
II. CAPACITANCE-PERMEANCE ANALOGY
In this section the capacitance-permeance analogy is revis-
ited. This analogy is based on the fact that any physical domain
can be described with an effort variable and a flow variable [12].
In the electrical domain these variables are the electrical
voltage and the electrical current , respectively. The
Fourier transforms of and are and ,
respectively, here denoted as and .
Electrical power is expressed in watts. Via
Ohms law the electrical resistance is introduced,
accounting for power dissipation and thermal noise
(1)
in which is the electrical conductivity, is the electrical field
line path length, and is the cross-sectional area. The thermal
noise can be represented by a parallel noise current source with
a spectral noise current density
(2)
expressed in amperes-per-square-root-hertz.
Electrical energy is stored in terms of electrical charge
on an electrical capacitance
(3)
in which is the permittivity, is the electrical field line path
length and is the cross-sectional area.
In linear networks an electrical impedance can be
defined, linking the effort variable to the flow variable
(4)
In the magnetic domain often the resistance-reluctance
analogy is applied. The describing variables are the magneto-
motive force , expressed in ampere-turns, and the magnetic
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 16, NO. 3, MAY 2001
flux , expressed in volt-seconds-per-turn. Their product
is expressed in joules and thus describes magnetic
energy storage and not power dissipation. Hopkinsons law
(Ohms law for magnetic circuits) states in which
is the reluctance, expressed in . In magnetic circuits
a resistance symbol is used to model a reluctance. Upon
performing a noise analysis, most circuit simulators insert
a parallel noise current source with a spectral density of
. However, contrary to electrical resistances,
reluctances do not imply power dissipation and thermal noise,
but imply (magnetic) energy storage. The resistance-reluctance
analogy thus is only partly valid and therefore not attractive for
circuit simulators.
In the late sixties the capacitance-permeance analogy was
introduced by Buntenbach [1]. His approach received attention
in a book by Karnopp and Rosenberg [12]. Since 1990, the ap-
proach received renewed attention [2], [13][15]. Buntenbach
introduced an alternative magnetic domain, in which the effort
variable again is the magnetomotive force ,
expressed in ampere-turns, but the flow variable is flux rate1
, , expressed in volts-per-turn,
analogous to electrical current . Consequently
the magnetic flux , expressed in volt-sec-
onds-per-turn, is analogous to electrical charge .
The product is expressed in watts and describes power
dissipation. Magnetic energy is stored in terms of flux on a
permeance , expressed in henries-per-square-turn
(5)
in which is the permeability, is the magnetic field line
path length and is the cross-sectional area. In magnetic cir-
cuits a capacitance symbol is used to model the permeance.
In linear networks, analogous to electrical impedance
, a magnetic impedance can be defined as
(6)
The capacitance-permeance analogy is fully valid and can be
easily implemented in circuit simulators.
In retrospect the choice of the word flux can be called un-
lucky as it suggests a displacement of matter, which is out of
the question in a magnetic structure containing static flux. Once
the flux changes and a nonzero flux rate is present physically
one may speak of a displacement of matter e.g., rotation of the
spinning axis.
A winding with turns links the electrical domain to the
magnetic domain
(7)
1In [2] the symbol for flux rate was given as ' (t) $ 8 (j!).
BLANKEN: LUMPED WINDING MODEL
Fig. 1. A gyrator (a) forms the link between the electrical and the magnetic
domain. A circuit simulator realization is shown in (b).
Fig. 2. Four-winding transformer.
Fig. 3. Possible flux paths.
These relations can be implemented using a Tellegen gyrator, as
shown in Fig. 1(a). A circuit simulator realization is shown in
Fig. 1(b).2
III. PROBLEM DEFINITION
The transformer of Fig. 2 contains four concentric windings
wound on a coil former (not shown) around a gapped center core
leg. The flux path topology is symmetrical with respect to the
center core leg. The assumed possible flux paths are indicated in
Fig. 3. Besides the main flux path through the core and the air gap
it contains stray flux paths through the windings and through the
interwinding section gaps. Fig. 3 is also valid for other arrange-
ments, such as E-type, P-type, RM-type, X-type cores, etc.
The magnetic impedances of the various core parts usually are
small compared to the other magnetic impedances, and the mag-
netic impedance of the air gap usually is small compared to the
various magnetic stray impedances. Fig. 4 shows a slight simpli-
fication, better suited for circuit simulation. In most cases it is
2Usually the Tellegen gyrator is applied with both ports in the electrical do-
main. Its terminal behavior i = gv and i =0 gv is controlled by the
gyrator parameter transconductance g . For use as a link between the electrical
domain and the magnetic domain the gyrator parameter g should be chosen
equal to 1=N . However, for simplicity of symbols drawn in this paper, the gy-
rator parameter is denoted N .
447
Fig. 4. Possible flux paths; better suited for simulation.
Fig. 5. Possible flux paths (simplified).
Fig. 6. Hybrid equivalent circuit (excluding electrical capacitances).
allowed to further simplify the flux path topology, as shown in
Fig. 5.
Fig. 6 shows the hybrid model excluding electrical capac-
itances between the windings. The energy storage and power
dissipation in the core are modeled by two magnetic core imped-
ances and . Due to the low electrical conductivity
of ferrite materials the eddy current losses in the core are much
smaller than the hysteresis losses. The ac hysteresis of the per-
meability of the core material can be modeled conveniently by
adopting a relaxation description [2]. By using nonlinear perme-
ance values magnetic saturation of the core also can be modeled.
Magnetic impedance primarily models energy storage in
the gap, so contains permeances. In [15] and [16] more elaborate
equations are presented to estimate the fringing permeance and
the values of permeances and magnetic resistances of the core.
The possible stray flux lines in Fig. 5 partly pass through the
windings and partly through the interwinding section gaps be-
tween the windings. In Fig. 6, the three magnetic impedances
, and model energy storage in the three
interwinding section gaps between the four windings. The four
electromagnetic threeports in fact are the subject of this paper.
448 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 16, NO. 3, MAY 2001

Fig. 8. Generic circuit model for a winding.

In Appendix A it is shown that , and

Fig. 7. Model of a winding or a winding section is a generic threeport (a) with , such that the matrix is reciprocal. The generic three-
one electrical and two magnetic ports, and consists (b) of an electrical twoport,
a gyrator, and a magnetic threeport.
port of Fig. 7(a) thus only has six degrees of freedom.
Suppose a winding is placed in a magnetic structure. If the
winding has a geometrically symmetrical design, and the mag-
They model energy storage and power dissipation in the respec-
netic structure is mirrored, the electrical impedance is unaltered.
tive windings and form the links between the electrical domain
This physical phenomenon has mathematical consequences: in
and the magnetic domain.
Appendix B it is shown that the magnetic threeport only has four
degrees of freedom, and the generic threeport also only has four
IV. NETWORK THEORY degrees of freedom.
In this section a sufficient equivalent circuit is presented, Now consider the threeport of Fig. 8, for which equation (11)
which models a generic winding or winding section. In Sec- applies as well. The circuit contains one electrical impedance
tion III it has been indicated that a (passive) generic threeport , a gyrator with parameter and three magnetic impedances
with one electrical port and two magnetic ports is needed, as with two different values and , thus has four degrees
shown in Fig. 7(a). of freedom. The magnetic part of this hybrid circuit obviously
At the electrical port the describing variables are and . The is symmetrical.
two magnetic ports have describing variables , on the left It can easily be verified that the matrix (11), describing the
side and , on the right side. threeport of Fig. 8, contains the following elements:
The equivalent circuit can be derived using network theory. The
generic threeport contains at least a gyrator to link the electrical
domain to the magnetic domain. In general the gyrator is coupled
to the threeport ports through an electrical twoport and a magnetic
threeport, as shown in Fig. 7(b). The electrical twoport, the gy-
rator and the magnetic threeport are passive systems as well. Thus
the electrical impedance matrix of the electrical twoport and the
magnetic impedance matrix of the magnetic threeport are recip-
rocal and have three respectively six degrees of freedom
(12)
(8)
and , and .
The four component values , , and can be
expressed in the four degrees of freedom , , and
(9) of the matrix

The gyrator links the electrical to the magnetic domain

(10)
A matrix can be defined, describing the terminal behavior of the
generic threeport, shown in Fig. 7(a)
(13)
(11) In conclusion it can be stated that the threeport of Fig. 8 is a
sufficient circuit to model a geometrically symmetrical winding.
BLANKEN: LUMPED WINDING MODEL 449

It is not a necessary circuit, as it is possible to present other

circuits with the same terminal behavior.
In [7][9], circuit topologies are proposed, which show simi-
larities with the topology proposed here. However, in [7][9] the
resistance-reluctance analogy is applied, which presents prob-
lems to power dissipation calculations and noise calculations.
This problem is solved by adopting the capacitance-permeance
analogy [1], [2], [12][15]. Furthermore, in [7][9] component
is absent. It is shown that this absence causes incorrect
modeling of stored energy [7], [8]. A distributed reluctance
model is proposed and it is shown that the representation
becomes increasingly accurate as the number of subcoils in-
creases. A number of five subcoils is suggested to give rather
accurate results. Apart from the increased complexity of the net-
work (number of nodes, number of components) the calculated
stored energy still is inaccurate.
From the above network-theoretical observations it is clear
that the inclusion of magnetic impedance can solve these
problems.
In case the magnetic field strengths at inner side and outer
side of the winding are identical ( ) the current through
the electrical port of the gyrator is zero. The electrical input
impedance then is , so models the electrical
winding capacitance between the terminals of the winding.

V. WINDING DESIGN
In this section the winding design is introduced. For calcula-
tion purposes it is allowed to neglect the curvature of the con-
ductors [4], [11].
Consider the geometrically symmetrical winding design as
shown at the top of Fig. 9. Table I lists the principal winding
parameters. The winding is wound with round winding wire of
conductor diameter and overall wire diameter over a
winding breadth . The average length of a turn is , as shown
in Fig. 10. The (integral) number of layers of a winding is
and the (integral) number of turns per layer is , such that the
total number of turns of the winding is . The spacing of
layers within a winding is and the spacing between windings
or winding sections is . The conductivity of the applied con-
ductor material is .
The current density , the magnetic field strength and the
magnetic flux are functions of and . To manage the com-
Fig. 9. Geometry of the winding (top), sheet winding geometry (middle) and
plexity of calculations, the two-dimensional problem is further equivalent circuit excluding electrical capacitance (bottom).
reduced to a 1-D problem: the round wire winding is trans-
formed into a sheet layer winding, as shown in the middle part of
Fig. 9, such that in calculations (perpendicular to the paper),
(from top to bottom of the paper) and are functions of
only [4], [11]. Table II lists the secondary parameters.
The winding pitch in a layer is

(14)

The sheet layer conductor height is defined following

Carstens definition [17, eq. (34)] Fig. 10. Assumption: curvature of conductors may be neglected.

To guarantee that the dc ohmic resistance of the sheet winding

(15) is equal to that of the round wire winding the sheet layer con-
450 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 16, NO. 3, MAY 2001

TABLE I in which , and are the overall wire diameter, the con-
PRINCIPAL WINDING PARAMETERS ductor diameter and the conductor height, respectively, of the
adjacent winding.
The bottom part of Fig. 9 shows the equivalent circuit. It is
derived from Fig. 8 by inserting an electrical resistance to
model the dc wire resistance of the winding. Magnetic impedance
in Fig. 8 is replaced by magnetic impedance , defined
by . Furthermore the electrical
impedance , which models the electrical capacitance, is
intentionally removed, such that the circuit models the magnetic
behavior of the winding only. Three excitations are assumed
present:3 a current source at the electrical port, a source of
magnetomotive force at magnetic port 1 (the
left side of the winding), and a source of flux rate
at magnetic port 2 (the right side of the winding).

TABLE II
VI. WINDING VOLTAGE
DERIVED WINDING PARAMETERS In Appendix C the winding voltage is calculated as a func-
tion of , and

ductivity has to be lower than the round wire conductivity (21)

[4], [17]
in which

(22)
(16)
By taking the limit of (21) for the dc voltage drop
The interlayer gap height is is found across the dc series wire resistance

(17) (23)

Contrary to Dowells approach the sheet layer conductor height Voltage can be written as
is dependent on the winding pitch , reflecting that the ef-
fective interlayer gap height increases for increasing winding
pitch [4], [17].
The layer pitch is
(18)
The sheet winding height is
(19)
Finally the interwinding section gap height is

(24)
3Other combinations of exciting sources may be chosen. However, due to the
( )
intentional absence of Z j! not all combinations are allowed. For example,
the assumed presence of two sources of magnetomotive force 9 9
and
(20) = (9
excludes free choice of the electrical current, because I 09 ) =N .
BLANKEN: LUMPED WINDING MODEL 451

in which and are functions of with

parameters and , respectively

(25)

and characteristic time constants and are

Fig. 11. Equivalent circuit.

(26) of all interlayer gaps correspond to in (5). The winding

breadth corresponds to the magnetic path length in (5).
The magnetic impedance can be considered to be
the parallel circuit of two magnetic impedances
VII. DERIVATION OF AN EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT
(31)
In this section the component values of the generic equiva-
lent circuit, shown at the bottom of Fig. 9, will be derived. To
in which
determine the values of the three unknowns [gyrator parameter
and the magnetic impedances and ] the
electrical voltage is expressed as a function of the three exci-
tations
(32)

(27) Likewise the magnetic impedance can be considered

to be the parallel circuit of three magnetic impedances
Comparing (24) with (27) yields

(33)
in which

(28)
in which the sheet layer permeance is

(29)
(34)
and the interlayer gap permeance is

(30) Fig. 11 shows the equivalent circuit.

The storage of magnetic energy in the interlayer gaps
Note that (29) and (30) correspond to (5). The permeability of is modeled by the magnetic impedances and
the sheet layers and the interlayer gaps is . The cross-sectional , symbolized by permeances with values
area of all sheet layers, and the cross-sectional area and , respectively.
452 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 16, NO. 3, MAY 2001

Fig. 12. The nth order approximating circuit. Fig. 13. Infinite-order circuit consisting of C R sections.

The magnetic impedances , and The calculation is eased by stepping over to another th order
represent the storage of magnetic energy and approximating circuit, and applying the mathematical continued
the eddy current losses in the sheet layers. The low-frequency fraction approximation technique, as will be shown in the next
value of corresponds to a permeance value of sections.
. The low-frequency value of the parallel circuit of
and corresponds to a permeance B. Continued-Fraction Expansion of
value of . Note that the network topology and the A continued-fraction expansion of is [18], [19]
permeance values , shows perfect correspondence
with electrical networks for capacitive modeling, developed by
Duerdoth [3].
The magnitudes of the high-frequency asymptotes of these
three impedances are proportional to . It thus is impos- (38)
sible to find finite-order circuits with frequency-independent
component values that correctly model the impedances for all
frequencies.

VIII. CONTINUED-FRACTION APPROXIMATION TECHNIQUE

A. Introduction Magnetic impedance can be written as a continued-frac-
In (32) and (34) impedances are defined of the form tion expansion as well

(35)

in which and are parameters. Such an impedance models

energy storage and eddy current losses.
In this section finite-order approximating circuits with
frequency-independent component values will be derived that
model the impedance in a frequency range from 0 Hz up to
sufficiently far beyond frequency . Such circuits have
impedances of the form

(36)
(39)
in which the th order function is defined as The impedance of the infinite-order circuit of Fig. 13 is

(37)

The low-frequency asymptote of is 1. The high-fre-

quency asymptote is , which is unequal to
the high-frequency asymptote of (see Ap-
pendix D). For very high frequencies the phase of impedance
approaches , whereas the phase of impedance
approaches , implying that high-frequency eddy
current losses are overestimated.
Fig. 12 shows an th order approximating RC-circuit (40)
consisting of series resistances and shunt capacitances. The
impedance can be written using (36) and (37). For low frequen- and can be made equal to (39) by defining
cies it is determined by all capacitances in parallel. The high- and as shown in Fig. 14. The network
frequency behavior is governed by , the resistance closest is characterized by only two parameters, namely and . The
to the terminals. The circuit can be seen as a discretization circuit of Fig. 14 in fact is the dual of the circuit of Fig. 15,
into laminations, and thus can be considered physical, which which has impedance [19], [20]
is an advantage [11]. Analytical calculation of the component
(41)
values, however, although possible, is not easy [18], [19].
BLANKEN: LUMPED WINDING MODEL 453

p
Fig. 14. p
Infinite-order circuit with impedance Z (j! ) = 1=(j!C
(tanh j!= j! )). Fig. 17. Impedance of this p
p third-order circuit approximates impedance
Z (j! ) = 1=j!C (tanh j!= j! ) sufficiently well for frequencies
f < 500(1=2 ).

Fig. 15.
Dual p 14: an infinite-order circuit with impedance Z (j! )
p of Fig. =
j!L(tanh j!= j! ).

Fig. 16. nth order approximating circuit with accompanying symbol.

C. th Order Approximating Circuits Fig. 18. Magnitudes and phases of functions P (j!;  ) and G (j! ;  ) as a
An th order approximating circuit is achieved by simply lim- function of normalized frequency ! .
iting the number of sections to . Fig. 16 shows both the symbol
and the circuit. They are characterized by the three parameters
, and .
The circuit of Fig. 16 consists of series capacitances and shunt
resistances. Its low-frequency behavior is governed by the ca-
pacitance closest to the terminals, and its high-frequency be- Fig. 19. Impedance of this third-order circuit is identical to that of Fig. 17.
havior is governed by all resistances in parallel. Although this
cannot be considered a physical network, it has the advantages
of elegant component values and easy extension to higher or- is almost perfect for and has acceptably small errors
ders. However, the circuits of Figs. 16 and 12 can be converted ( 13%, 30 ) for .
into each other and then have identical impedances for all fre- As an example of the above-mentioned conversion the circuit
quencies [19]. of Fig. 19 is given, of which the impedance is equal to that of
Fig. 17. Although the circuit of Fig. 19 may be called more
D. Third-Order Approximating Circuits physical it lacks the elegance of having attractive component
values. Besides, it cannot easily be extended to other orders,
The impedance of the third-order approximating circuit of
because all component values change upon extension.
Fig. 17 is
E. Fourth-Order and Higher-Order Approximating Circuits
For circuits of other orders the functions can be
calculated as well.
Figs. 20 and 21 show the magnitude and phase, respectively,
of the ratio for
.
The fourth-order approximating circuit of Fig. 22 shows an
(42) almost-perfect fit for . It has a magnitude error less
than 14% for . Its phase error is less than 5 for
in which function , approximating function , and less than 30 for .
is found to be The tenth-order circuit shows an almost-perfect fit for
. It has a magnitude error less than 14% for .
Its phase error is less than 5 for and less than 30
for .
(43) The validity of the tenth-order approximation extends over a
Fig. 18 shows magnitudes and phases of functions frequency range exceeding by far the frequency range required
and as a function of normalized frequency . The fit by all practical cases known to the author. In most cases the
454 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 16, NO. 3, MAY 2001

Fig. 22. Impedance of this

p
fourth-order
p
circuit approximates impedance
Z (j! ) = 1=j!C (tanh j!= j! ) sufficiently well for frequencies
f < 1500(1=2 ).

Fig. 20. Magnitude of the ratio Z (j!)=Z (j! ) = P (j!;  )=

G(j! ;  ) for n = 1 1 1 1 10 as a function of normalized frequency ! .

Fig. 23. Approximating circuit.

Fig. 21. Phase of the ratio Z (j! )=Z (j! ) = P (j! ;  )=G (j! ;  ) Fig. 22 shows the circuit of magnetic impedance
for n = 1 1 1 1 10 as a function of normalized frequency ! . for , and .
For , and it shows the circuit of
fourth-order approximation circuit of Fig. 22 performs suffi- magnetic impedance and for ,
ciently well. and it shows the circuit of magnetic impedance
.
IX. DERIVATION OF AN APPROXIMATING CIRCUIT Fig. 23 shows the approximating circuit, derived from the
In Appendix D it is shown that function is well equivalent circuit of Fig. 11.
approximated by . In Section VIII-E it was shown that
is well approximated by for frequencies X. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION
up to a value determined by the order of the approximation. In this section an example is given of the application of the
Thus the magnetic impedances above-derived approximating circuit in a transformer model.
Measurements, both in the frequency domain and in the time
domain, are compared to calculations.
The transformer at hand is a six-layer, two-winding switched-
mode transformer. A Philips E13/7/4 core is applied with an ef-
fective cross-sectional area of mm and an effec-
tive length of mm. The center core leg has an air gap
of length mm. The effective cross-sectional area
(44) of the air gap, including fringing fields, is some
mm . The applied 3C80 ferrite has a low-frequency relative per-
meability of . The rotational magnetization losses
are good approximations for impedances , in the ferrite (ac hysteresis losses) are modeled using a relax-
and , respectively [see (32) and ation modeling approach with a susceptibility of and
(34)]. The order of the functions and ps [2]. The 220-turns primary winding is wound around
can be chosen depending on the frequency range of interest, as the mm coil former with AWG-37 winding wire (
shown in Section VIII-E. m nominal conductor diameter) in four layers of each 55
BLANKEN: LUMPED WINDING MODEL
Fig. 24. Measured and calculated magnitudes of the primary winding
impedance.
Fig. 25. Measured and calculated phases of the primary winding impedance
at shorted secondary winding.
turns over a winding breadth of mm. A one-layer 60- m
polyester tape separates the primary and the secondary winding.
The 22-turn secondary winding is wound in two layers (13
9 turns) with AWG-25 winding wire ( m). The con-
ductor conductivity is . modeled impedance is a plain 32 pF effective capacitance, while
The equivalent circuit basically is equal to Fig. 6 but contains
six threeports in stead of four, and is extended with five capaci-
tive networks, connected between the six electrical ports of the
electromagnetic threeports, to model the capacitive behavior of
the six winding layers. The four-terminal capacitive Duerdoth
networks each contain six capacitances of values , and
, and are parameterized by the geometrical parameters
of Fig. 9 and one material parameter (the effective permittivity
) [3].
Fig. 24 shows the measured and calculated magnitude of the
primary winding impedance at open and short-circuited sec-
ondary winding as a function of frequency for 1 kHz
100 MHz. The primary impedance at open secondary winding
shows a magnetizing inductance of 2 mH and a resonance with
a total effective capacitance of 32 pF at MHz. The
damping of the resonance is caused by rotational magnetization
core losses. Apart from a few resonance doublets in the mea-
sured impedance (at 3.5 MHz and at 14 MHz), which are not
present in the calculated impedance, the impedances agree very
well up to some 30 MHz.
455
Fig. 26. Measured and calculated magnitudes of the secondary winding
impedance.
Fig. 27. Flyback converter circuit principle.
At short-circuited secondary winding the primary inductance
decreases to a stray inductance value of approximately 0.1 mH
at 100 kHz, respectively 0.08 mH at 1 MHz. For frequencies
below 10 kHz the impedance is resistive, due to primary winding
resistance and transformed secondary winding resistance. The
phase plot of Fig. 25 shows that for 0.1 MHz 3.5 MHz
the phase of the primary winding impedance does not exceed
some 75 . This is caused by eddy-current losses in the copper
windings. The resonance of the stray inductance with the 32
pF effective capacitance at 3.5 MHz is damped by the eddy-
current losses. For frequencies 3.5 MHz 30 MHz the
the measured impedance shows a resonance doublet at 14 MHz.
This distributed effect got lost in the applied lumped approach.
Fig. 26 shows similar plots of the measured and calculated
impedances of the secondary winding. The magnetizing induc-
tance is H. The resonance frequency is 575 kHz, indicating
an effective capacitance of some 3.6 nF. At short-circuited pri-
mary winding the inductance value drops to a stray inductance
value of some H at 100 kHz, respectively some H at
1 MHz and H at 3 MHz. Again the measured impedance
and the calculated impedance show eddy-current losses for fre-
quencies above approximately 0.1 MHz. The resonance at 3.2
MHz of the 3.6 nF effective capacitance with the H stray
inductance is damped by the eddy-current losses.
In general it can be said that these frequency-domain mea-
surements and calculations agree well from dc to some 30 MHz.
Fig. 27 shows a flyback converter circuit principle. Terminal
2 of the primary winding of the transformer is connected to a
300-V DC voltage source, modeling the rectified and low-pass
filtered mains voltage. Terminal 1 is connected to ground via a
switching device, here modeled as a (time-dependent) resistance
456 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 16, NO. 3, MAY 2001

Clearly a good agreement between measurement and calcula-

tion is present. Note that the modeled damping of the 2.5 MHz
ringing, directly after opening the switch, agrees well with mea-
surements. In equivalent transformer circuits that do not model
the eddy-current losses this ringing is hardly damped, which
contradicts reality.

XI. CONCLUSIONS

The capacitance-permeance analogy provides powerful

means for building hybrid equivalent circuits of inductive
components [1], [2], [12][15]. The circuit topology of the
magnetic part of such circuits directly reflects the flux-path
topology. Using network theory it is shown that the generic
circuit of Fig. 8 is a sufficient circuit to model a winding.
Equivalent (Fig. 11) and approximating circuits (Fig. 23) are
Fig. 28. Measured primary current (upper trace) and switch terminal voltage.
derived for one winding or winding layer of an inductor or a
multiwinding transformer. It is shown that the proposed circuit
adequately models energy storage and power dissipation, due to
dc series resistance and to eddy current losses, in the winding.
The presence of magnetic impedance (see Fig. 8) solves
problems with incorrect prediction of energy storage and power
dissipation in the windings, as mentioned in [7][9]. All com-
ponent values are frequency independent and are expressed in
geometrical parameters, winding data and material parameters.
Lumped modeling of eddy current losses with a fourth-order
network yields good results up to a frequency of a factor of
1500 above the frequency where eddy current losses become
apparent. It is shown that the model can be used for analyses
both in the frequency domain and in the time domain, and that
Fig. 29. Calculated primary current (upper trace) and switch terminal voltage. the calculations agree well with measurements.

and a capacitance in parallel. The secondary winding is con-

APPENDIX A
nected via a semiconductor diode to a 5-V DC voltage source,
modeling the output electrolytic capacitor charged to 5 volts. Using (8)(11) the nine matrix elements of the matrix,
Fig. 28 shows the measured primary current (upper trace) and describing the terminal behavior of the generic threeport of
the switch terminal voltage (lower trace), and Fig. 29 shows the Fig. 7(a), are
calculated equivalents on the same scales. At the closing of the
switch at s the transformer terminal 1 voltage switches
from V to approximately zero and the primary current ap-
proximately linearly increases to a maximum value of 0.2 A.
The rectifier diode is reverse-biased and the secondary current
is zero. Just before opening of the switch, at s, the trans-
former magnetically stores some J of energy.
When the switch is opened the primary current shows damped
ringing at 2.5 MHz around average value zero, while the ter-
minal voltage shows damped ringing around an average value
of 350 V. The rectifier diode now is forward-biased by the sec-
ondary current. For AC signals the transformer is approximately
short-circuited by the low series resistance of the diode (and that
of the electrolytic capacitor). The ringing is caused by the trans-
former primary stray inductance and parasitic capacitances and
is damped by eddy-current losses in the copper windings.
At s, the secondary current attains a zero value. The
rectifier diode is reverse-biased and the switch terminal voltage (45)
shows hardly-damped ringing at some 0.4 MHz around an av-
erage value of 300 V. After some time the procedure is repeated. and , and .
BLANKEN: LUMPED WINDING MODEL 457

Substitution into (45) yields

(49)
and , and ,
so, like the magnetic threeport, the generic threeport of Fig. 7(a)
has four degrees of freedom.

Fig. 30. Both threeports are electrically driven. In situation (a) magnetic
APPENDIX C
impedances Z and Z are connected to magnetic ports 1 and 2, The problem of calculating current density , magnetic field
respectively. In situation (b) they have changed places.
strength and magnetic flux is a 1-D problem with variable
. In section , and will be calculated within
APPENDIX B
one of the sheets, say sheet number , with . Section
The total magnetic impedance of a magnetic struc- focuses on and in the interlayer gap between sheet
ture can be considered to consist of two parts and , layer and sheet layer . In section the resultant winding
connected to magnetic ports 1 and 2, respectively, as shown in voltage is calculated.
Fig. 30(a). Upon excitement by an electrical current an elec-
trical voltage will be generated across the terminals of the A. Calculation of , and in Sheet Layer
winding. If the winding has a geometrically symmetrical design, The winding conducts a net current of value
and the magnetic structure is mirrored, the electrical impedance
is unaltered. The mathematical consequences of this physical (50)
phenomenon will be derived below. In Fig. 30(b) the mirrored
situation is depicted: is connected to magnetic port 2 and The magnetic flux at place ( ) in sheet layer
is connected to magnetic port 1. Now can be calculated using

(51)

The magnetic field strength and the current density

are coupled by Ampres law

(52)

The winding is placed in an externally-generated magnetic field

(46) at the left-hand side of the winding, so

implying that the magnetic input impedance at magnetic port 3 (53)

is identical in both situations.
Furthermore Obviously the magnetic field strength to the left of the winding
is , and to the right it is .
Substitution of (53) into (51) yields

(47) (54)

Substitution of (46) and (47) into (8) and (9) yields The first and the second derivative of are

(48)
so the magnetic threeport only has four degrees of freedom. (55)
458 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 16, NO. 3, MAY 2001

The voltage across the total of turns of the sheet layer Solutions of (63) may be written as
cannot be a function of , so . It consists of an (65)
ohmic voltage and an induced voltage: .
The ohmic voltage is in which and are yet unknown constants.
Differentiation of (65) with respect to yields
(56)
(66)
The voltage is induced by a number of fluxes and integration of (65) yields
flux built up in layer between position and
position (67)
flux built up in layers Substitution of (55) into (61) gives
flux built up in interlayer gaps
between layer and layer
all flux built up to the right of the winding.
The induced voltage in sheet layer ( ) (68)
is
After substitution of (66) and (67) into (68) and using (64), con-
stant is found to be

(69)

Constant can be found by applying (50) to (67)

(70)
(57)
from which
In sheet layer the induced voltage is
(71)
(58)
The current density in sheet layer thus is
The resulting voltage in sheet layer ( ) is

(72)

(59) By substituting (72) into (53), the magnetic field strength

in sheet layer is found to be
In sheet layer the resulting voltage is

(60)

Taking the derivative of with respect to and using

yields (73)

(61) Substituting (73) into (51) yields an equation for the magnetic
flux in sheet layer
Differentiation with respect to yields

(62)

Substitution of (55) into (62) results in

(63)

in which
(74)
(64)
BLANKEN: LUMPED WINDING MODEL 459

The flux in sheet layer is

(75)

B. Calculation of and in the Interlayer Gap

Between Sheet Layers and
In the interlayer gap of width between sheet layers and
the magnetic field strength is , so the
interlayer gap flux for is
F G
Fig. 31. Magnitudes and phases of functions (j! ; ; m) and (j! ;  ) as
a function of normalized frequency ! for parameter values m = 1, m = 2
(76) and m = .1
APPENDIX D
C. Calculation of the Winding Voltage
In (25), functions and were given as a function of
The total voltage across all sheet layers with parameters and , respectively. Normalization on
can be calculated using (59) and (60), e.g., at time constant yields

(77)

By inspection

(80)

The low-frequency asymptote of both functions is 1, because

(78) . The high-frequency asymptote of
both functions is . It has a magnitude proportional to
Combining (72), (75), (76), and (78) and using and a phase of 45 .
, and Fig. 31 shows magnitudes and phases of functions
the voltage can be written as and as a function of normalized
frequency for parameter values , and .
Differences between and show up
around , but disappear when the number of layers
increases, because
(81)

The ratio of magnitudes is between 1 and 1.32 for and

between 1 and 1.11 for . The phase difference is less than
8 for and less than 3 for .
In conclusion it can be stated that function is a good
approximation for function .
(79) ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The terms, proportional to , are identical to those reported by The author wishes to thank Dr. M. Pelgrom and F. Schoofs
Dowell [4]. for encouragement, Dr. R. Roovers, Dr. D. Reefman, and
460
H. J. Bergveld for helpful discussions, Dr. T. Claasen, Dr.
E. Stikvoort, and Dr. G. Janssen for application of the con-
tinued-fraction approximation technique, J. R. De Boer and D.
Huisman for supplying several switched-mode transformers
and relevant technical literature, and J. Van Vlerken, Dr. F. Van
Horck, and U. Mandler for careful proofreading of this paper.
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Peter G. Blanken (SM91) was born in Breukelen,
The Netherlands, in 1955. He received the B.Sc.
degree in electrical engineering from the Hogeschool
Arnhem, Arnhem, The Netherlands, in 1976 and
the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the
Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven,
The Netherlands, in 1981.
In 1981, he joined the Analog Integrated Elec-
tronics Group, Philips Research Laboratories,
Eindhoven, where he was involved in the design
of integrated RGB output amplifiers. Since 1989,
he has been a member of the Magnetic Recording Systems Group, working
on recording channel electronics and modeling of magnetic heads and rotary
transformers. In 1995, he moved to the Mixed-Signal Circuits and Systems
Group, working on integrated high-voltage row drivers for an experimental
flat-and-thin display, on modeling of switched-mode transformers and on
low-power 61 A/D converters for use in battery-management electronics. He
holds seven U.S. patents.