COMPEL: The International Journal for Computation and Mathematics in Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Purpose – Designers of electrical machines need a clear understanding of the mechanism of noise generation, in order to be able to reduce the noises which are produced under the influence of forces due to the magnetic field. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new approach to give a best estimation of these forces.

Design/methodology/approach – A model is developed to calculate the distribution of local forces using the virtual work principle in finite element context including ferromagnetic hysteresis. The forces are calculated using a formulation based on the energy derivation. The nonlinear behaviour of ferromagnetic material is considered by combining a Jiles-Atherton model and finite element method through the fixed-point iterative technique.

Findings – The effects of accurate behaviour of magnetic material are not always taken into account when calculating the local forces in electromagnetic devices. The introduction of hysteresis phenomenon in the analysed device gives a good prediction of magnetic induction. The expression used to compute the force includes an integral which is estimated numerically and not a constant term.

Originality/value – The developed approach is more accurate than the classical methods using constant magnetic permeability or a first magnetization curve.