A resonant measurement system for characterization of hysteresis cycle in soft ferrites

Characterization of magnetic cores is an indispensable task in order to securely accomplish the requirements of a power electronic design and prevent failures. Obtaining the hysteresis cycle is a crucial step to achieve a complete and useful characterization of the material due to its nonlinear and past-dependent effects over a design. This curve is easily obtained at low frequencies (up to 10 kHz) by means of a well-known traditional method. However, there is a major obstacle when trying to operate at higher frequencies in this manner due to the cost and difficulty of operation of high frequency-high voltage generators. In this paper a significant improvement in a method for measuring hysteresis at high frequencies, previously developed by the authors, is presented and evaluated. This method provides much higher frequency measurements with a simple setup.