Recent Advances in Experimental Methods for the Investigation of Silicon Iron

Abstract

This paper reviews some recent advances in the investigation of silicon iron. Both basic investigations of magnetic properties and investigation of the performance of silicon iron in devices such as transformers is considered. Loss and magnetostriction measurements are covered since they represent an area of rapid improvement in both accuracy and versatility by making widespread use of microcomputers and digital systems. A new method of measuring losses of thin high permeability material is introduced. Examples of advances in experimental and computational predictions of flux and loss distributions in machines are discussed to show the growth of the better understanding of the performance of silicon iron in practice. A proposed interactive method of combining finite element methods with experimental technique is discussed and advantages and disadvantages of the various methods are reviewed.