43-3
Mitigation of Inductor Loss Based on Minor-Loop Hysteresis Characteristics
Toshihisa Shimizu*, Kentaro Mishima*, Keiji Wada**, Kenichi Ishii***
(*)Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1, Minami-Ohasawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0397 Japan, shimizu~eei.nictro-u.ac.ie
(**) Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1, Ookayama, Meguro, Tokyo, 152-8550, Jppan, kawda@,ee.titech.ac.iu
(*I*)Toho Zinc Co., Ltd., 387, Naka,Fujioka, Gunma, 375-0005, Japan, ishii-kenichiro@toho-zinc.co.jp
Abstract:
Owing to the progress of low saturation voltage and high
speed switching characteristics on the power semiconductor
devices, conversion effieieney of the power converters have been
increased. On the contrary, the power loss dissipated on the
passive component, such as inductors and capacitors, becoming
relatively larger. Hence, the increasing of conversion efficiency
much higher than 96% is getting harder. The latest research
authors have reported shows that more that half amount of the
loss on the single-phase P W M inverters is dominated by the loss
on the AC filter inductors and the high-frequency transformers.
From above point of view, it is evident that discussion regarding
loss minimizing method on the passive components, especially
the inductors, is essential. In this paper, loss generation process
on the AC fiter inductor used on the high-frequency switching
converter is reviewed. It is pointed out that the minor-
hysteresis-loop characteristics on the magnetic core plays an
important role of loss dissipation of the inductor. The loss
characteristics of the filter inductor on the hnck-chopper circuit
are studied. Also, influence of modulation method to the loss
characteristics of the AC filter inductor on the single-phase
P W M inverter is also measured.
I. Introduction
Owing to the progress of low saturation voltage and high
speed switching characteristics on the power semiconductor
devices, conversion efficiency of the power converters have
been increased. On the contrary, the power loss dissipated on
the passive component, such as inductors and capacitors,
becoming relatively larger. Hence, the improving of
conversion efficiency much higher than 96% is getting harder.
The latest research that authors have reported shows that
more than half amount of the loss on the single-phase P W M
inverters is dominated by the loss on the AC filter inductors
and the high-frequency transformers. From above point of
view, it is evident that discussion regarding loss minimizing
method on the passive components, especially the inductors,
is essential. It is pointed out that the minor-hysteresis-loop
characteristic on the magnetic core plays an important role of
loss dissipation of the inductor. Actually, the minor-
hysteresis-loop characteristics are well known as one of the
fundamental characteristics of magnetic core. However,
many transformer and inductor manufacturing companies
seems to have taking the loss caused by minor-hysteresis-
IEICE/lEEE INTELEC'O3, Oct. 19-23,2003
834
loop into account based only on their experiences but not on
the theoretical calculation. Hence, the accurate loss
prediction of the inductor on the designing process cannot be
performed.
Boglietti have already reported the iron loss in induction
motor driven by P W M inverter[l]. This paper shows that the
iron loss depends on the modulation index, modulation
method, as well as the switching frequency. However,
discussion regarding the minor-hysteresis-loop characteristics
and the resultant loss was not clarified. Boglietti also showed
the shape of the hysteresis circles in the magnetic core driven
by the P W M waveforms[2]. However, the minor-hysteresis-
loops characteristics observed on it seem to be irregular.
In this paper, loss generation based on the minor-
hysteresis-loop on the AC filter inductor used on the high-
frequency switching converter is discussed and characterize
the loss phenomenon. The measuring circuit of minor-
hysteresis-loop on the magnetic core of the DC inductor is
explained, and the shape of minor-hysteresis-loop on the
whole condition of DCDC buck-chopper is measured. Based
on the measured results, modulation method of D C D C buck-
chopper for minimizing the inductor loss as well as the
conversion loss is discussed. Further more, minor-hysteresis-
loss on the AC filter inductor used on the single-phase P W M
inverter is discussed. Two typical modulation methods, sub-
harmonic modulation and current-hysteresis modulation, are
compared from the view point of total loss, which include
iron loss and cupper loss, on the AC filter inductor. Useful
suggestion of reducing the inductor loss is given in the
conclusion.
11. Minor-Hysteresis-Loop and Iron Loss
Fig. 1 show the minor-hysteresis-loop in the magnetic core
of the inductor in the case when high frequency current
component is contained in the fundamental current
component. The fundamental current forms the major-
hysteresis-loop on the H-B plane, and high frequency current
forms many number of minor-hysteresis-loop. The area
surrounded by the loop is directly reflected to the energy loss.
It also should be noted that the shape of the minor-hysteresis-
loop changes in accordance with the condition of magnetic
field strength, H, and magnetic flux density, B. This fact has
an important meaning in designing of magnetic saturation of
the inductor.
 Minor loop
*t //I
Fig. 1. Hysteresis haps an the B-H characteristics.
In. Minor-Hysteresis-Loop and Inductor Loss
on the DC Chopper Circuit
Figs. 2 and 3 show the DC buck-chopper circuit and its
operation waveforms. The measuring method of minor-
hysteresis-loop on the inductor is also illustrated in fig. 2. In
this circuit, the magnetic flux, Q , and the current, I, are
measured, and those two values are displayed on the X-Y
CRT as shown in fig.4. By measuring the area of the
displayed loop, such as ASb and AS,, the actual hysteresis-
loss dissipation can be calculated by multiplying the area and
the frequency. It should also be noted that the shape of
hysteresis-loop changes depending upon the DC-bias current,
which equal to the output current of the chopper, I,and I&,
and hence the resultant loss will be changed.
Fig. 3. %ration w a w f o m on the buck-chapper.
835
*t s*
Figs. 5-7 show the experimental results of minor-
hysteresis-loop. The denotation (a) and @) in each figures
show the measured waveforms of current and flux, and its X-
Y expression, respectively.
Fig. 5 and 6 show the comparison of minor-hysteresis-loop
in the case when the flux ripple, AQ ,is kept constant but the
DC-bias current, IL, is changed. This condition is obtained
when the chopper switch is modulated by the conventional
voltage-pulse-width modulation method. It is obvious that
those two Imps have different shape each other and the area
of the loop increases as the DC-bias current is changed from
1[A] to 9[A].
40 I I R
(a) Operation waveforms of the current and flux
{
! -!: J
1A 4
@) Minor-hysteresis-Imp.
FigS. Minor-hystemischaracteristia.(AQ = mmt.1, = 1A)
 comparing d@/dl, on each figure, and it is clear that the
40us inductance on fig.6 is smaller than that on fig. 5.
Fig.5 and 7 show the comparison of minor-hysteresis-loop
in the case when the ripple current, A I L , is kept constant but
the DC-bias current is changed. This condition is obtained
when the chopper switch is modulated by the constant-
current-hysteresis modulation method. The area of loop on
fig. 7 is much smaller than that on fig.5 even though the DC-
bias current is increased. However, the switching frequency
of the chopper circuit is increased from 5kHz to 27kHz in
order to keep the ripple current AI,=I.S[A].
(a) operationwaveforms of the e m n t and flux.
Fig. 8 shows the change of area of minor-hysteresis-loop in
the case when either the ripple current, AIL, or the ripple flux,
A@ , is kept constant. When the ripple flux, A @ , is kept
constant, the hysteresis area increases as the DC output
0.6 current increase. On the contrary, the hysteresis area
mWb decreases when the ripple current, AIL, is kept constant.
Fig. 9 shows the change of energy loss of the inductor on the
same condition with fig. 8. In the case of constant ripple flux
condition, the loss on the DC inductor increases as the output
current increases. However, the loss is kept almost constant
1A 1, on the constant current ripple condition even though the
(b) Minor-hysteresis-loop. switching frequency is increased.
Fig.6. Minor-hysteresis charaeteristies.(AQ = comt,lL= 9A)
W : Constanepuhs width modulation
x : Conatant-currentripple moduktion
40us

O 2 4 6 8 10
(a) Operation waveforms of the -nt and flux.
DC Output Current Io (A)
Fig. 8. Minor hysteresis area Y.S. output mat.

: Conatant-pulse width modulation

X : Constant-current ripple modulation

f=5kHz 4=5kHz
10 a. ..

:
': '.' :' , .. . . . .
!-,
1A IL
@) Minor-hysteresis-Imp.
2
Fig.7. Minor-hysteresis characteristics.(A@ = comt.1, = 1A)
0
This is because that the inductance of the inductor 0 2 4 6 8 1 0
decreases as the magnetizing condition move to its magnetic DC Output Currentlo (A)
saturation and hence the amplitude of resultant ripple current Fig. 9. Imn loss (minor hysteresis loss) V.S. output c u r " .
is increased. The change of inductance can be observed by

836
 Fig. 10 shows the conversion efficiency of the
experimental chopper setup on both modulation conditions.
The constant-current-ripple method gives always high
conversion efficiency rather than the constant-flux-ripple
metbod. On the former method, switching loss on the
switching devices also increase, but the amount of this loss
did not influence the total loss of the chopper circuit in this
case as shown in fig, 11. Although, how much the switching
loss increase will be influenced by the kind of switching
devices, the inductor loss will be decreased when the
constant ripple current modulation is applied in the chopper
circuit.
100
to the constant-current-hysteresis modulation method on the
chopper circuit and the switching frequency changes
according to the amplitude of the instantaneous output
current.
Typical waveforms on both modulation methods are shown
in figs. 13 and 14. A uni-polar pulse waveform on the output
voltage is obtained on fig. 13, whereas a the bi-polar pulse
waveform on the output voltage is obtained in fig. 14. Also,
the terminal voltage on the inductor is completely different
between those two modulation methods. Then, the amount of
loss dissipated on the AC inductor will be changed
depending upon those factors. In this study, the authors chose
a condition that the equivalent switching frequency of the
inverter is congruous with the same frequency.

E Ed
.-

-
2 IO
I
U
60
0 2 4 6 8 10
Output current I,(A) Fig. 12. Cincuit configuration of the single-phase inverter
Fig. 10. Conversion efficiency of buck-chopper.

26
Total loss
mow 17KW

Imn loss
MOSFET losa

su
0
A 4 Conatant A 4 mnstsnt
Copper lass

Diode loss
j
i
(a) waveform of Vi
4m

V.=5 k H 3 U,=.=27kH3
Fig. 11. Loss comparison between two operation methods.
6A

IV. Loss Evaluation of the AC Filter Inductor 0

on a Single-phase Inverter
On the high-frequency PWM inverter circuit as shown in
fig. 12, the magnetic flux variation in the AC filter inductor is (b) waveform of I,
much complicated situation. Hence, it is difficult to observe
VL
the variation of magnetic flux, loss dissipation on the
inductor is discussed under the condition of the following 1wv
two modulation methods. The one is the sub-harmonic
modulation and the other is the current-hysteresis modulation 0
The sub-harmonic modulation controls the voltage pulse
width and hence the current ripple, which influences the
minor-hysteresis-loop, cannot be controlled directly. It
resembles to the voltage-pulse-width modulation method on fcl waveform o w .
~I
~~

the chopper circuit. The current-hysteresis modulation Fig. 13. Operation waveform of the single-phase inverter
on the sub-harmonic modulation.
controls the AC output current directly so as to make the
associated ripple current have the constant value. It resembles

837
 Then, the stitching frequency, f,, is obtained from,
f, =
v,'-v;
2ViLfAIi, (3)
E ,_._.,......_,_l. 2 * The output voltage, V,, is assumed to he the following
(a) waveform of Vi sinusoidal waveforms.
V, = f i ~ , , s i n o t (4)
Substitute (4) into (3), frequency variation is expressed as,
1
M
f, = (v,' -2v& sin20t) . (5)
2ViLfG"
0
Hence, the averaged frequency, 1,can be calculated as,
-f, =
V?-V,',
I--.".".-
@) waveform of I,
2ViL,Al,
I

This averaged frequency is selected so as to coincide with

that on the sub-harmonic modulation on the experimental
setup.

(e) waveform of v,
fig. 14 operation waveformsof the single-phase inverter
on the cun'ent-hysteresis modulation.
. .
The circuit parameters and its modulation condition are
summarized in table 1. The switching frequency on sub-
harmonic modulation can be controlled to IO&. On the
other hand, the switching frequency on the current-hysteresis
modulation changes depending upon the output current
amplitude. Then, the averaged switching frequency is defined
as follows.
- v, _1u
Fig. 15. Inverter output voltage waveform and inductor cunent waveform.

Talk. I Circuit paramctrrs. Fig. 16 and 17 show the measured result of inductor loss
DC-bus Voltage Ed 145 V on both the modulation method. In these experiments,
inductor loss is separated into the following three categories,
Output Voltage V, 100 v
(i) high-frequency iron loss: this is caused by the minor-
Output Current In 5A hysteresis-loop in the iron core.
Output Power PR HK-36D 500 w (ii) low-frequency iron loss: this is caused by the major-
Filter Inductor Lr (TOHO Zinc) 1.2 mH hysteresis-loop in the iron core.
(iii) Low-frequency copper loss: this is caused by the
Filter Capacitor 20u F resistance on the copper winding. In this case, high-
frequency.copper loss cannot be observed.
It can be seen that larger high-frequency iron loss is
Fig. 15 shows the inverter output voltage and inductor observed on the current-hysteresis modulation. On the other
current during one switching period. In the case when the hand, low-frequency loss is almost same on both the
current ripple, AI^, is kept constant, the rise time, t,, and the modulation method.
fall time, t2, on the inductor current are calculated from Fig. 18 shows the measured results of conversion efficiency
following equations. on the different switching frequency. It can be seen that the
current-hysteresis modulation results in lower efficiency at
all frequency range.

838
 magnetizing characteristics on the inductor core is introduced
and the loss caused by the minor-hysteresis-loop is clarified
experimentally. The comparison of the inductor loss on the
..................... buck-chopper is discussed and showed a novel modulation
method which can reduce the inductor loss. Loss comparison
of AC filter inductor on the single phase inverter circuit is
.................... also discussed by utilizing the two typical modulation
r__
methods. It is clarified that the sub-harmonic modulation
enables the area of small-hysteresis-loop on the AC inductor

Ll,ol
.............
smaller and the resultant loss dissipation can be reduced
totally compared to the current-hysteresis modulation method.
The optimal modulation on the converter circuit taking the
Imn loss Iron loss Copper loss loss factor in the inductor into account is the future work.
(High-frequency) (Low-frequency)
Fig.16. Lou distribution on the sub-harmonic “idation. Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the Grant-in-Aid for

Scientific Research from Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science. The authors express thanks for the support.

References
[l] A. Boglietti. P.Fe&s, M . M , F.Profwno, “Effece of Different
Modulation Index an the Imn L o w i Soft Magnetic Materials
Su@plied by PWM Inverter,” IEEE Trans. an Magnetic=., Vo1.29, N0.6.
pp.32343236.1993.
[2] A.Baglietti, Bomwscio, M.Chiampi, M.Pastonlli, M.Repetto,
U.. c “Computetion and Meawement of Imn Losses under PWM Supply
Conditions.” IEEE T m s . on MAgneties, Va1.32, No.5, pp.4302-43C4,
Iron loss Iron loss Copper loss 1996,
(High-frequency) (Low-frequency) [3] S.Konishi, K.Baba, M.Daiguuji. “Reactive Power Conmensalor,” Fuji
Fig.17. Loss distribution on the current-hysteresismodulation. ErectricReview,Vo1.72,N0.5,pp.289-295,2MlI.
[4] K.Mishima, K W a b T.Shimim. “Imn Loss Evaluation of the AC Filter
W : sub-harmonic modulation Inductor for PWM Inverter,” E E J Prw. of Technical Meeting, SPC-03-
34, pp.49-54,2W3(in Japanese).
X : current-hysteresismodulation
100

-
&
v
98

96
~.....-....~~~.~........
I
.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
..

3 9 4 ;
.-0
.
...
...
...
...
...
...
.
W

88 L__-._.L L.._I__.__L._~
0 5 10 15 20
Switching frequencyf, (kHz)
Fig.18. Conversion efficiency Y.S. switching fqmey.

From those results, it can he concluded that the current-

hysteresis modulation has larger minor-hysteresis-loop area
compared to that on the sub-harmonic modulation.

V. Conclusions
Loss evaluation on the inductor used in the typical power
converter is discussed. The minor-hysteresis-loop on the

839