Electric Power Systems Research 101 (2013) 63–70

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Electric Power Systems Research

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Optimum design of core blocks and analyzing the fringing effect in

shunt reactors with distributed gapped-core
Abbas Lotfi a , Ebrahim Rahimpour b,∗
a
Electric Power Engineering Department, Norwegian Uni. of Sci. and Tech. (NTNU), N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
b
ABB AG, Power Products Division, Transformers, Lohfelderstrasse 19-21, D-53604 Bad Honnef, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Shunt reactors are designed in the form of cores with air gaps which are distributed along the legs. It
Received 29 August 2012 is crucial to determine the height of blocks based on its impact on the magnitude of the fringing flux,
Received in revised form 4 March 2013 the number of blocks and other size-related parameters. This study has applied three-dimensional finite
Accepted 18 March 2013
element method to a single-phase reactor which is calculated by well-known equations of magnetic
circuit theory. This is done to analyze the effects of the fringing flux on the inductance.
Keywords:
In this work, air gaps are distributed along the legs in order to determine the effects of the number
Core blocks
and height of core blocks on the inductance. The analytical equations, which are used to calculate the
Distributed gapped-core, Fringing effect,
Shunt reactor, Optimum design
optimum heights of core blocks based on the Schwarz-Christoffel transformation, are developed.
These equations are derived from the size-related parameters of the reactor and their validity has been
fully confirmed by the outcomes of the finite element analysis. There is a good agreement between the
height calculated by empirical relations and that estimated using the proposed method in this paper.
© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Shunt reactors are usually installed to overcome power system
problems caused by the capacitive reactive power. These include:
over voltages that occur during low load periods of long transmis-
sion lines as a result of the inherent capacitance of the line; leading
power factors at generating plants resulting in lower transient
and steady-state stability limits; and open-circuit line charging
kVA requirements in extra-high-voltage systems that exceed the
available generation capabilities [1]. Nowadays, shunt reactors are
designed in the form of cores with air gaps. To reduce the fring-
ing effects of the flux, air gaps are distributed along the leg; as a
result, the legs of the reactor are divided into several laminated
magnetic steel disks called core blocks, which are separated by air-
gap wedges [2]. Fig. 1 shows this structure. The fringing effect is
modeled as a permeance parallel to the main air gap, which leads
to a higher inductance in the winding than was originally calculated
from the length of the main air gaps. Further, flux leakage around
the air gap results in an increase in the Eddy current losses in the
winding, core blocks and other iron components [3,4].
For designing the reactor, the volume of the air gap is deter-
mined by taking the following into consideration: (a) the required
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 2224 14200; fax: +49 2224 14398.
E-mail addresses: abbas.lotfi@ntnu.no (A. Lotfi),
ebrahim.rahimpour@de.abb.com (E. Rahimpour).
reactive power (Q) of the reactor, (b) the maximum magnetic flux
density (Bm in the core, (c) frequency (f), (d) the amount of increase
in the inductance caused by the fringing effect, and (e) the energy
stored in the space between the core leg and the winding. The
increase rate of the inductance caused by the fringing flux can be
controlled by the number of core blocks in each leg. Therefore, it is
essential to pay attention to the correlation between the inductance
of the windings and the number of core blocks at every step of the
design. In addition, it is crucial to determine the height of the blocks
based on (a) its impact on the magnitude of the fringing flux, (b)
the number of blocks, and (c) other size-related parameters of the
reactor. It is worth mentioning that the diameter of the core blocks
will be equal to the diameter of the air gap, which in turn will be
determined by the specified volume and financial considerations
[5]. Regarding this subject, there are no remarkable works about
the above mentioned problem and most of the research is related
to the interaction between shunt reactors and the power system in
different transient conditions [6,7], the nonlinear dynamic model-
ing [8,9], and the manufacturing of core blocks and the materials
[10].
Firstly, this study will apply three-dimensional finite element
method (FEM) to a single-phase reactor in order to analyze the
effects of the fringing flux on the inductance. After that, the air gaps
will be distributed along the legs of the reactor to determine the
effects of the number and height of core blocks on the inductance.
Then, the analytical equations used in calculating the inductance
and the optimum height of core blocks will be presented. These

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64 A. Lotfi, E. Rahimpour / Electric Power Systems Research 101 (2013) 63–70

to overall energy stored in all the regions. Then the best value for the
height of blocks is found by minimizing the ratio of stored energy
in the main gap to all the regions in terms of corresponding induc-
tances. Thus, for analytically calculated reactor in this section, it is
not necessary to consider the energy stored in other regions. How-
ever, economically determining of the above mentioned design
parameters is not significant for the purpose of this paper, and so
the Ag /lg ratio has been presumed to be 1.1. The validity of the equa-
tions in various designs can be confirmed by changing the values
Fig. 1. Gapped core shunt reactor. once the equations have been sufficiently developed. Therefore, the
number of turns can be achieved by:
equations are derived from the size-related parameters of the reac- 
tor and their validity has been fully confirmed by the outcomes of
N=
L
the FEM.
  (7)
Ag
0 lg
2. The case study and FEM
The cross-sectional area of the winding can be reached through
2.1. The design and structure of the modeled reactor the current density equation as below:

N
I 
For the purposes of the present study, a single phase shell-type Ku · Aw = N · Acu → Aw =
e
(8)
reactor of 10 kV, 100 kVAR is designed using the equations based ku J
on magnetic circuit theory. Neglecting the reluctance of iron and
where Aw , Ku , Acu and J represent the area of the winding, the
the copper losses, the equations below determine the volume of
filling factor, the cross-sectional area of the wire, and the current
the air gaps.
density, respectively.
Q = Ve · Ie (1) Incorporating Eq. (7) into Eq. (8) provides the following:
 2  
Ie
L
Ve = √ N · Bm · Ag · f (2) Aw =  
Ku · J

(9)
2 Ag
0 lg
 1 B · l 
m g
Ie = √ (3)
2 0 · N After Aw has been determined, the height of the winding is calcu-
lable by obtaining the Hw /Bw with a view to technical and financial
By manipulating the above equations: considerations [5]. In this paper, the above mentioned ratio regard-
Q less of these considerations is selected to be 2.1. It is necessary
Ag · lg =   2 ·f
 (4) to mention that the wire insulations as well as number of cooling
0 · Bm
channels between winding discs for thermal considerations have
where Q, Ve , Ie , lg , Ag „ f, Bm and 0 represent the reactive power, the a direct impact on the value of the filling factor. In the optimiza-
effective nominal voltage, the effective nominal current, the total tion process the dimensions of the winding will be changed. So, the
length of the air gap, the area of the air gap, number of turns, the power loss of winding and finally number of cooling channels will
frequency, maximum flux density in the air gap, and the free space be changed. As a result, the filling factor is not a constant. For the
permeability, respectively. The left-hand side of Eq. (4) is the gap sake of simplicity, Ku is considered constant. Table 1 displays the
volume and will be constant if the reactive power, flux density and specifications of the reactor derived from the equations mentioned
frequency are kept constant. Also, it assumes that all the magnetic above, the inputs of the problem, and values of 0.6, 1.1 and 3 for Ku ,
energy is stored in the main air gap. Consequently, by disregarding Ag /lg , and J, respectively.
the fringing flux, the inductance of the winding can be obtained as The distance from the winding to the middle and side legs as
below: well as to the top and bottom yokes (Bi , Bs , Hu and Hd according
  to Fig. 1) is 20 mm, and is finally decided by the insulation design.
Ag
Pg = 0 → L = N 2 · Pg (5) Further, the yoke is rectangular with a width (dy ) equal to the outer
lg diameter of the leg (Doc ) and a thickness (Hy ) of 70 mm, the height
where Pg , N and L represent the permeance of the air gap, the num- (Hw ) and the width (Bw ) of the winding are 146.13 mm and 70 mm.
ber of turns, and the inductance of the winding, respectively. The Fig. 2 shows the calculated reactor. The main gap can be seen along
inductance of the winding, moreover, can be obtained by means of the middle leg.
the reactive power and the nominal voltage, both of which are the
inputs of the design problem, as follows:
Table 1
Ve2 Specifications of the modeled reactor.
L= (6)
ω·Q Parameters Symbol Value

Since the proportion of Ag /lg affects the size of the reactor, dif- Reactive power Q [kVAR] 100
ferent values for this ratio lead to different design in terms of the Voltage Ve [kV] 10
Current Ie [A] 10
consumed and losses of copper and iron [5]. Ultimately, these val-
Outer diameter of leg Doc [m] 0.1774
ues are decided according to economical considerations. As it can Length of air gap lg [m] 0.0225
be seen, the stored energy in the spaces between the winding and Inductance L [H] 3.19
leg for inductance calculation is not considered. As a matter of fact, Number of turns N [t] 1519
the method of this paper is to make a comparison of the inductance Width of winding Bw [m] 0.07
Height of winding Hw [m] 0.14613
corresponding to the main air gap with inductance corresponding
 A. Lotfi, E. Rahimpour / Electric Power Systems Research 101 (2013) 63–70 65

Fig. 3. Meshing of the model.

Fig. 2. The modeled single phase reactor. Table 2

Result values from the FEM without air-gap distribution.
2.2. Modeling of the reactor Energy density Inductance of the Total
of the air gap main air gap inductance
2.2.1. Modeling method FEM Results 571400 [J/m3 ] 3.18 [H] 4.6 [H]
To model the described reactor in Section 2.1 using three-
dimensional FEM, following simplifications have been applied:
During the FEM, the maximum current is used, and in order to
1) Because of the symmetry, only one half of the reactor is modeled achieve the desirable accuracy, smaller meshes are used in each run
in FEM software, and of the program. The process of decreasing the size of meshes con-
2) Since this study does not investigate the eddy losses, these losses tinues until the energy error is below 0.1 in two consecutive runs.
are not considered. Consequently, magneto static formulation is Once this is achieved, the program will stop, and the calculated val-
used for the inductance calculation. ues, i.e. inductance, flux distribution and so on, will be considered
as final results. Fig. 3 presents the model with the mesh plotted.
The past research has proven the validity and accuracy of FEM
in reactor modeling [11–13]. Thus, a three-dimensional model is
2.2.2. FEM analysis results without distributing air gap
created. Meshing the space of the problem and presuming linearity,
This section will present the results of the application of the FEM
the Poisson vector equation (Eq. (10)) is solved [14].
to the modeled reactor, where the air gap was not distributed and
 1  instead placed in the center of the middle leg. Additionally, Fig. 4
∇× ∇ × A = J (10)
0 r displays the distribution of the density of the energy, and of the
magnetic flux density. As the flux is noticeably scattered in and
where A is the magnetic potential vector and r is the relative
around the air gap, it is anticipated to have a considerable effect
permeability.
on the inductance magnitude of the winding. Table 2 provides the
Once the problem has been solved and the magnetic potential
values obtained from Eq. (12) and Eq. (13) for the energy of the
vector has been obtained, other parameters such as flux density and
main air gap, its inductance, and the total inductance.
the magnetic field strength will be easily calculable. Subsequently,
Fig. 5 illustrates a plot of energy variation along the line at the
the equations below will provide the density of the energy in the
middle of air gap. The plotted energy density along the mentioned
space of the problem, and ultimately the inductance of the winding.
line regards half of the model, and then the value of the energy den-
sity has to be multiplied by two for the overall density of energy. The
1  fringing effect around the gap can be observed in two-dimensional
wm = H·B (11)
2 plot of the magnetic flux lines. Fig. 6 shows this effect.
 To achieve the inductance of the main air gap, the density of
the energy is multiplied by its volume. Despite the fact that the
Wm = Wm dv (12)
obtained value is favorably close to the expected value in Section 2.1
(Table 1), the total inductance is much larger. This is to be expected
2Wm because of the presence of considerable fringing flux. In addition,
L= (13) some energy is stored in the space between the winding and the
Im
core that is not considered in analytical formulation in Section 2.1.
 and H
where Wm , wm , B  represent the magnetic energy, the density The fringing flux path is generally modeled as a permeance parallel
of the energy per volume, flux density vector, and magnetic field to the main air gap, resulting in an increase in the total permeance
strength, respectively. and finally a rise in the inductance. Also, the fringing flux finds its

Fig. 4. FEM results, (A) Distribution of magnetic energy, (B) Distribution of magnetic flux.
66 A. Lotfi, E. Rahimpour / Electric Power Systems Research 101 (2013) 63–70

Fig. 5. Energy variation along the line at the middle of air gap.

way to the leg through the sides, and owing to the fact that the
layers of the core are grain-oriented, these fluxes lead to excessive
iron losses [3,4].
2.2.3. Investigating the effects of distributing the air gap along
the leg
As mentioned before, the air gap is divided into several smaller
gaps along the leg to reduce the fringing effect by decreasing the
effective length of the air gap. Consequently, the effects of the num-
ber of core blocks and their height on decreasing the fringing flux
and the inductance of the winding are studied at different steps of
applying the FEM. To this end, 10 different states of the modeled
reactor with different numbers of core blocks are used. In this anal-
ysis, m and lC will represent the number of core blocks and the
height of each block, respectively.
The total length of the air gap has been kept constant. Besides,
as Fig. 7 illustrates, for different values of m, the total inductance
of the winding is obtained according to the increase in lc. Fig. 8
shows the magnetic flux lines for three different values of lC , where
m = 3. As demonstrated in Fig. 7, for all values of m, an increase in lC
causes a decrease in the inductance of the winding which follows
from the decrease in the fringing effect in the air gaps; however,
after reaching a specific amount, it starts to cause an increase in
the inductance of the winding. The findings indicate that to reduce
the fringing effect, there is an optimum value for the height of the
core blocks in the leg. The changes in the inductance can also be
observed in the magnetic flux lines drawn in Fig. 8. Table 3 gives the
values of lC corresponding to the minimum inductance (indicated
by lC,p ) and the total inductance of the winding for different values
of m. In this table Lm , L0 , and Hw represent the inductance of the
reactor corresponding to m number of core blocks, the inductance
of the reactor without distributing the air gap, and the height of the
winding, respectively.
According to Table 3, increasing the value of m up to 6 brings
a decrease in the inductance of the winding; however, for values
larger than 6, the magnitude of the inductance remains unchanged.
The air gap length between two consecutive core blocks for m = 10
is equal to 22.5/(10 + 1) = 2.045 mm. At this point, the difference in
magnitude between the inductance of the winding and the induct-
ance of the main air gap is mostly due to the energy stored in the
space between the winding and the core leg; the fringing flux exerts
no significant influence. It is worth noting that the obtained val-
ues indicate that the proportion of the height of the winding (Hw )
to the number of air gaps (m + 1) closely approximates the value
of lC,p . Of course, this equation is not generalizable, and may not
work in other designs. The validity of this equation can be fur-
ther explored by using various values in Ag /lg to design a variety
of reactors. The appendix includes the optimum values of lC for
Ag /lg = 2 and Ag /lg = 0.5, as well as the proportion of the height of
the winding to the number air gaps, which proves that the equation
is satisfactorily accurate.
In addition to the FEM-based equation used for calculating the
optimum lC , a new equation is developed in the next section. To do
so, an equation is derived from the Schwarz-Christoffel transforma-
tion and used to model the fringing flux. Besides the optimum lC , the
inductance value is also determined. It is necessary to mention that
this equation confirms the results obtained from the FEM-based
calculations.
3. Analytical modeling of the fringing flux path
3.1. Analytical method for considering the fringing effect
There are a number of analytical methods to measure the effect
of the fringing flux, most of which incorporates an equivalent per-
meance in the mentioned flux path [15–18]. The equation below

Table 3
Results of the FEM with distributed air gaps.

m (number of blocks) lC,p [mm] Lm [H] Lm /L0 Hw /(m + 1) [mm]

1 72 4.1 0.89 73.1

2 49 3.98 0.865 48.7
3 38 3.9 0.847 36.53
4 30 3.86 0.84 29.23
5 25.5 3.82 0.83 24.36
6 22 3.8 0.826 20.87
7 19.5 3.79 0.82 18.3
8 17.3 3.78 0.82 16.24
9 15.5 3.77 0.819 14.61
10 14 3.76 0.817 13.3
Fig. 6. Magnetic flux line.
 A. Lotfi, E. Rahimpour / Electric Power Systems Research 101 (2013) 63–70
Fig. 7. The changes in the inductance versus the height of blocks for different values of m.
which is derived from the Schwarz-Christoffel transformation rep-
resents this [15]:
 
l
Pfring = 0 D 1 + Ln
2lg
where, as shown in Fig. 9, D, l, lg and Pfring represent the diameter
of the core, the length of the leg, the length of the air gap, and the
permeance of the fringing flux, respectively. Eq. (14) can be used to
calculate the permeance of the fringing flux when the air gap is not
distributed. This equation helps to correct the inductance equation
given in Eq. (5).
Thus, all that needs to be done is to add the above permeance,
the permeance of the fringing flux, and the permeance for the space
67
where Ptot , Pfring , Pg and Pw are the permeance of the total flux path
of the winding, the permeance of the fringing flux path, the perme-
ance of the main air gap, and the permeance for the energy stored
in the space between the winding and the core leg, respectively. In
(14)
this equation, Pfring is obtained from Eq. (14) and Pg from Eq. (5).
However, to determine Pw , the equivalent surface should be calcu-
lated by considering the shape of the fringing flux. To this end, if
the permeance of the fringing flux is geometrically assumed to be
an empty cylinder, then the outer diameter equaling the flux arc
can be obtained as follows:
 o 2 2
Pfring = ([Dfring ] − Doc ) (16)
4
between the winding and the limb to Eq. (5), which will result in 
the following: o 4 2
Dfring = P + Doc (17)
 fring
Ptot = Pg + Pfring + Pw (15)
Considering Eq. (14) will result in:

  
o 4 lC 2
Dfring = Doc · lg 1 + Ln + Doc (18)
 2lg

Fig. 8. The changes in the flux path caused by increasing the lC for m = 3. Fig. 9. The fringing flux path considered in calculating the permeance.
68 A. Lotfi, E. Rahimpour / Electric Power Systems Research 101 (2013) 63–70

Table 4 1
The values of the permeances and inductance obtained from the analytical equations l = (H − mlC − lg − lC ) (22)
2 f
for the modeled reactor.

Parameters Symbol Value 2

lg = lC + lg (23)
Gap permeance Pg 1.384 × 10−6 m+1
Fringing permeance Pfring 0.61 × 10−6 where l is the length of the core leg from which the fringing flux
Permeance of space between core and winding Pw 0.0126 × 10−6
exists, and lg is the intended air gap (see Fig. 10).
Total permeance of winding Ptot 2.007 × 10−6
Inductance L 4.63 To calculate lC,p , the permeance calculated by Eq. (21) should be
Error % (analytical and FEM) Error −0.65% neglected, which will lead to the equation below:
(e)
 (e) 2

l 1 2
Hf − 2
+ m+1 lg
o = → lC,p = (24)
where Doc and Dfring represent the outer diameter of the leg and the lg e 1+ (e)
(m + 1)
2
outer diameter for the fringing flux, respectively. This leads to the
following: Fig. 11 shows the values calculated by Eq. (24) and the FEM.
  This figure demonstrates the remarkable accuracy of the proposed

4
(D + 2Bi )2 − (Dfring
o )2 analytical equation in predicting the height of core blocks leading to
Pw = 0 (19) the lowest inductance. The appendix includes the values obtained
Hf
from Eq. (24) for different designs of the modeled reactor.
where Bi and Hf represent the distance between the winding and
the core block, and the height of the core window, respectively (see 3.3. Calculating the inductance of the reactor with distributed air
Fig. 1). Therefore, the inductance of the winding can be calculated gap
as follows:
The inductance value of the reactor can be accurately estimated
L = N 2 · Ptot (20)
by using the calculated height of the core blocks and incorporating
Table 4 lists the values of the permeances and inductance Eq. (15). Subsequently, the permeance for each distributed air gap
obtained by employing these equations and the dimensions of the can be obtained from the equation below:
modeled reactor.  
lC
The error percentage, concluded by comparing the inductances Pfring = 0 D 1 + Ln (25)
2lg
resulted from the above-mentioned equations with the values
obtained from the FEM, confirms that the Schwarz-Christoffel To determine the inductance, it is necessary for the perme-
method is able to estimate the permeance of the fringing flux path ance of each air gap to be connected in series with the fringing
accurately. permeance, and for this series-connected set to be parallel to the
permeance for the space between the winding and the core. There-
3.2. Analytical equation for the height of the core block fore:
1
The equation obtained in the previous section as well as the Ptot = (Pg + Pfring ) + Pw (26)
m+1
results achieved from the FEM will be taken into consideration
to develop an equation for the suitable height of the core blocks. where Pw is obtained through Eq. (16), Eq. (17), Eq. (18) and Eq. (19).
Fig. 8 illustrates that the higher lC gets, the less scattered the flux Once Ptot is obtained from Eq. (20), the inductance of the reactor can
becomes. For smaller values of lC , most of the fringing flux is blocked be calculated. Table 5 displays the predicted values of the modeled
from the upper leg to the lower leg. This means that its magnitude reactor for different values of m. Evidently, the results attained from
is insignificant and thus the core blocks cannot affect it much. As the analytical equations and the FEM are favorably similar.
the height of the blocks (lC ) increases, the fringing flux of the upper Table 5 indicates that as the number of core blocks rises and the
leg and lower leg, as well as the fringing flux between the non- fringing effect declines, the value of the inductance decreases as
consecutive blocks disappears, and only that of the consecutive well. The amount of error in either case is acceptable. In case the
blocks remains. At this point, it appears that there is the lowest number of blocks increases to the point where the fringing effect for
fringing effect. In order to check this hypothesis, the permeance the space between the blocks reaches zero, then the only perme-
between the upper leg and the second block corresponding to each ance will be that of the air gaps and the space between the winding
leg will be formulated (see Fig. 10) below:
  
(2l )
Pfring,u2 = 0 · D 1 + Ln (21)
2lg

Fig. 11. Comparing the values of lC obtained from the analytical method with those
Fig. 10. The fringing flux path used in calculating lC . from FEM.
 A. Lotfi, E. Rahimpour / Electric Power Systems Research 101 (2013) 63–70 69

Table 5
The inductance calculated by the analytical equations and the FEM.

Number of core blocks LFEM [H] LCal [H] Error %

m=1 4.13 4.124 −0.48

m=2 3.98 3.92 1.5
m=3 3.91 3.8 2.8
m=4 3.86 3.73 3.4
m=5 3.83 3.68 3.9
m=6 3.81 3.64 4.46
m=7 3.79 3.62 4.48
m=8 3.78 3.6 4.76
m=9 3.77 3.58 5
m = 10 3.76 3.57 5.05

Table 6
Validation by the built and tested shunt reactor.

m = 13, Hf = 1621 mm, Hw = 1360 mm, lg = 300 mm

Parameters 3D-FEM[12] Eq. (24) Empirical Hw /(m + 1) Ag

Fig. A1. Height of core block versus number of blocks for lg
= 2.
Height of the core blocks 92 [mm] 92.1 [mm] 90 [mm] 97 [mm]

and the core. However, according to Eq. (20), this will lead to an
inductance of 3.43 H. In this state, the error percentage in related
to the inductance obtained from the FEM for m = 10 will be 8.77%,
which is acceptable. Obviously, this error will be lower and more
acceptable if the inductance is calculated by FEM for a large value
of m.

4. Validation by a manufactured and tested reactor

In order to verify the proposed equation, a manufactured and

tested three-phase shunt reactor of 50 MVAR, 400 kV is stud-
ied. In previous works [5,12], different values for the height
of blocks and the Ag /lg ratio were considered to calculate the
inductances in a different number of core blocks using three-
dimensional FEM. This shunt reactor has 13 core blocks. The height
of the core window and overall length of air gap are 1621 and
300 mm, respectively. The height of blocks at the minimum amount
of fringing effect is calculated by empirical relations from the
manufacturer. It is compared with the three-dimensional FEM
modeling [12] and the analytical equation presented in this paper
in Table 6.
According to Table 6, there is a good agreement in the results
obtained from 3-FEM, the empirical relations and Eq. (24). This
assures that the presented equation can be used for estimat-
ing the best dimensions for core blocks in the design of shunt
reactors.
5. Conclusion
Reduction of the fringing flux and stray losses are the main rea-
sons for distributing the air gap along the leg in shunt reactors.
Consequently, it is vital to have an analytical equation to enable the
designers to calculate the best value for the core height at different
selections of core block numbers. This paper incorporates a numer-
ical and an analytical method to investigate the fringing effect and
the inductance of shunt reactors with distributed air gaps. First, the
FEM analysis indicates that there is an optimum height for each core
block to minimize the fringing effect. Second, an empirical relation
as a function of winding height and the number of core blocks is
obtained by the FEM. Then, a new analytical equation is derived
using fringing flux permeance based on Schwarz-Christoffel trans-
formation. There is a good agreement in the results obtained from
three-dimensional FEM, empirical values and proposed analytical
equation.
Fig. A2. Height of core block versus number of blocks for
Ag
= 0.5.
lg
Appendix
Validity of the developed equations on the different designs of
the modeled reactor is demonstrated in Figs. A1 and A2.
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