3D Inductance and Impedance Determination Taking Skin Effect Into Account

I. Stefanini, M. Markovic, Y. Perriard

Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne (EPFL)
Integrated Actuators Laboratory (LAI)
ELG – Ecublens, CH 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
igor.stefanini@epfl.ch

Abstact- A new formulation to calculate the internal and

external inductances, the resistance, the Joules losses and the cut B. External inductance
frequency in a 3D circular cross-section coil structure, with or There is a simple relation between the magnetic flux Ψe
without skin effect is presented. The formulation is obtained from
the Maxwell’s wave equations. The results are presented in through a closed contour and the line integral of the magnetic
graphical form as function of frequency and/or radius wire. vector potential around the contour. According to the Stokes’
theorem, Ψe is:
I. INTRODUCTION r r r r r r
In a contactless energy and information transmission, ∫
S
∫
Ψe = B ⋅ ds = ∇ × A ⋅ ds =
S
∫ A ⋅ dl ' '
C ''
(3)
which is often applied in microtechnics systems, the
transmission coil design is often confronted to several which in combination with (2) gives :
problems: r r
µ⋅I dl '⋅dl ' '
• geometrical structures that do not allow the use of
the "standard" equations found in the literature;
Ψe =
4 ⋅π
⋅
R ∫∫
C ''C '
(4)

• the effects like the skin and/or proximity effect, Here, C ' ' is the internal loop placed at the wire surface and
requiring a more complex computation of the r
coil parameters (inductance, impedance, cut dl ' ' its elementary step.
frequency, Joule losses, etc.). The flux Ψe is obviously proportional to the current I :
This paper presents a numerical 3D model to compute the
coil impedance, inductance and resistance. A rectangular coil Ψe = Le ⋅ I (5)
analysis will be presented, but the model can be applied to where the proportionality factor Le is called external self
other coil geometrical forms (circular or another form) as well.
inductance. Using (4) and (5), it follows:
The skin effect is considered in order to improve the model r r
at high frequencies. This model enables Joule losses, the coil µ dl '⋅dl ' '
impedance and the cut frequency determination. Le =
4 ⋅π
⋅
R ∫∫
C ''C '
(6)

II. 3D INDUCTANCE MODEL

C. Internal inductance
A. Analytical model The coil internal inductance is associated to the internal
In absence of iron, the integral solution of vector Poisson’s magnetic field inside the coil conductors. We define the
equation [1] is: internal inductance Li based on energy considerations [1]:
r
r µ J 2 ⋅ Wmi 1 r r
A=
4 ⋅π
⋅ ∫ R
⋅ dv' (1) Li =
I 2
=
I 2 ∫
⋅ B ⋅ H ⋅ dV
Vi
(7)
V'
r
where A is vector magnetic potential, dv' is the elementary where W mi is the stored energy inside the volume Vi of the
r r
volume and R the distance. conductor, B and H are respectively the magnetic flux
In many applications, a current flows in a circuit. In that case, density vector and the magnetic field and I its total current.
the solution is: According to Ampère’s law applied to a circular conductor
r [2], the magnetic flux density inside the conductor is given by:
r µ⋅I dl '
A=
4 ⋅π
⋅
R ∫
C'
(2)
B=
µ⋅I
⋅r (8)
r 2 ⋅π ⋅ a2
Here, C ' is the loop placed at the wire axis and dl ' its where r is the distance from the conductor axis and a the
elementary step. conductor radius.

0-7803-8987-5/05/$20.00 ©2005 IEEE. 74

 With (7) and (8), Li becomes:

µ ⋅l
Li = (9)
8⋅π
where l is the total wire’s coil length.
The total self-inductance is the sum of two derived
inductances:
L11 = Li + Le (10)

D. Numerical model
The derived analytical model enables determination of the Figure 1: A cylindrical conductor of circular cross-section.
internal and external inductances of coils with various
geometrical forms (circular, rectangular or another form). As
the integral in (6) cannot be solved analytically, numerical After the development [1], two equations are obtained:
solution must be applied.
A total symmetrization of the numerical 3D model and a
suitable choice of the integration points are essential to reduce
( )
J k 'r =
j ⋅ I ⋅ k ' ber k ' r + j ⋅ bei k ' r
⋅
2 ⋅ π ⋅ a ber ' k ' a + j ⋅ bei ' k ' a
(13)
computing time, maintaining a high precision in the
computation of inductances.
The external and internal inductances are determined as:
( )
H k 'r =
I
⋅
ber ' k ' r + j ⋅ bei ' k ' r
2 ⋅ π ⋅ a ber ' k ' a + j ⋅ bei ' k ' a
(14)

r r
µ ∆l '⋅∆l ' ' where:
Le = ⋅ ∑∑
4 ⋅ π C '' C ' R
(11)
• k ' = ω ⋅ µ ⋅σ ,
µ r
Li =
8⋅π
⋅ ∑ ∆l '
C'
(12) • ber and bei are the real and imaginary parts of the
first kind of zero-th order Bessel function,
• ber’ and bei’ are the first derivations of the real
and imaginary parts of the first kind of zero-th
order Bessel function.
III. SKIN EFFECT ANALYSIS
Equation (13) determines the cross-section density current
A. Analytical model distribution, and (14) the magnetic field distribution.
The distribution of a DC current is uniform over the
conductor cross-section. However, time-varying current has a B. Numerical model
tendency to be concentrated near the conductor surface. If the As the radius wire is generally smaller than the coil
frequency is very high, the current flows through a very thin dimensions, the magnetic field outside the conductors is
layer near the conductor surface. This effect is known as skin considered unchanged even if the current density is
effect. nonuniform. Therefore, to compute the external inductances,
The theory in the previous section does not consider this (11) is used.
effect. In this section we add this effect in order to increase the Knowing the current density distribution over the cross-
precision of inductance computation. section, the next step is the discretisation of this current to
Firstly, wires with circular cross-section are analyzed, as generate an equivalent circuit. If we choose a sufficiently
they are most often used. We consider a straight wire of small ring elementary surface (dark in Fig. 2), the current in
each discretized part of the wire can be considered uniform.
radius a , conductivity σ , and permeability µ , carrying a
sinusoidal current of amplitude I and frequency f (Fig. 1).
It is a symmetrical system along the z -axis. In the
cylindrical coordinate system (r , ϕ , z ) , the electric field has
only the z -component and the magnetic field has only the
ϕ component. The both fields are function of time and r , but
not of z and ϕ .

Figure 2: Cross-section elementary surface.

75
 It follows: Z i = Ri + j ⋅ ω ⋅ Li (22)

r r 2⋅π
r2
The decomposition of (22) in real and imaginary parts gives
∫
∆Si
J ⋅ ds = ∫∫
0 r1
J ⋅ r ⋅dr ⋅ dϕ = I i (15) the possibility to determine the resistance and the internal
inductance:

∑I =I (16) Ri =
k' ⋅l
⋅
ber k 'a ⋅ bei ' k 'a − bei k 'a ⋅ ber ' k 'a
(23)
( ) ( )
i
i 2 ⋅π ⋅ a ⋅σ 2
ber ' k 'a + bei ' k 'a
2

where ∆S i is a ring wire elementary surface limited by two

k' ⋅ l ber k 'a ⋅ ber ' k 'a + bei k 'a ⋅ bei ' k 'a
Li = ⋅ (24)
radii ( r1 , r2 ) (Fig.2).
2 ⋅π ⋅ a ⋅σ ⋅ω ( ) (
2
ber ' k 'a + bei ' k 'a
2
)
To compute the elementary internal impedance, the general
definition of Faraday’s law is applied [1]. The elementary The Joule’s losses are computed as:
voltage ∆U of the elementary distance A-B is:
Pi = Ri ⋅ I 2 (25)
B
r r
∫ E ⋅ dl = ∆U (17) and the coil cut frequency by:
A Ri
f = (26)
2 ⋅ π ⋅ (Li + Le )
r r
where E is the electric field, dl the elementary step and the
A-B distance corresponding to the half elementary wire length
contour (Fig. 3). IV. MODEL VALIDATION
r
The electric field E has only the z-component (Fig. 1), the To control the results, the finite elements (FE) analysis
discretisation of (17) gives: using FLUX 3D [6] is applied.

( )
∆U = E k ' a ⋅ ∆l (18)
For all computations, a 3D rectangular coil is used.
The coil parameters are:
( )
where E k ' a is the wire circumference electric field, ∆l the
• height = 30 mm;
elementary step (Fig. 3).
• length = 1000 mm;
• number of turns = 1;
• copper conductors with circular cross-section.
Fig. 4 shows the external inductance as a function of the
wire radius a obtained by 3D model (11) and by the
Neumann’s formula [1].

Figure 3: The elementary wire length contour.

To compute the wire circumference electric field, Ohm’s

law and (14) are applied [1]:

( ) J (σk a )
'
E k 'a = (19)

Using (13), (18) and (19), the elementary internal

impedance ∆Z i of one elementary length wire step is given
by:

j ⋅k' ber k ' a + j ⋅ bei k ' a

∆Z i = ⋅ ⋅ ∆l (20)
2 ⋅ π ⋅ a ⋅ σ ber ' k ' a + j ⋅ bei ' k ' a

Using (20), it follows that the internal impedance is:

p Figure 4: The external inductance as a function of the wire radius a.
Zi = ∑ n =1
∆Z i (21) Fig. 5 shows the skin effect resistance and Fig. 6 the
internal inductance as a function of the frequency, for a
where p is the total number of elementary length wire step. different wire radii compared to the results obtained from
literature [3].
The internal impedance can be written in the complex
form as:

76

Figure 5: The skin effect resistance as a function of the frequency.
Figure 6: The internal inductance as a function of the frequency.
Fig. 7 shows a comparison between the external
inductance and the maximal value of the internal inductance,
the DC value. With a good approximation, the internal
inductance can be neglected. As an example, with a wire
radius a = 1 mm , the external inductance value is 13 times the
internal DC value.
Figure 7: Comparison between the external inductance and DC internal
inductance.
Fig. 8 shows the external inductance as a function of the
ratio between the coil length and the coil height. The internal
loop placed at the wire surface is maintained unchanged. The
77
total external flux does not depend only on the surface area,
but on the geometry too.
Figure 8: The external inductance as a function of the ratio between the coil
length and the coil height.
Fig. 9 shows the skin effect resistance. It starts with its DC
value, for the low frequency it remains constant until a ”skin
effect start frequency” (for the wire radius a = 1 mm it is
approximately 10 4 Hz). Past this frequency, the resistance
increases linearly until a maximal value corresponding to a
very high frequency, and after it remains approximately
constant. In Fig. 9, the results analysis is presented for a
frequency from 0.1 Hz to 1010 Hz and this effect is not shown.
When we have a very strong skin effect, all current is just
on the strip surface and the total resistance reaches its maximal
value. This effect is more important if the radius wire is large.
The ”skin effect start frequency” depends on the conductor
radius a : wires with the smaller radii are less affected by the
skin effect (Fig. 9).
Figure 9: The skin effect resistance.
Fig. 10 shows the skin effect internal inductance. For all
conductors radii, the internal inductance starts with the DC
value 5 ⋅10 −8 H/m, when the frequency exceeds the ”skin effect
start frequency” the internal inductances decreases. It
decreases linearly until a minimal value and after it remains
approximately constant.
 Figure 10: The skin effect internal inductance.
Figs. 11 and 12 represent the DC-normalized resistance
and the DC-normalized internal inductance respectively. This
DC-normalization is always made by dividing the values by
DC value. As an example, with a wire radius a = 1 mm , the
resistance increases to 13 times its value when it passes to
10 4 Hz from 10 6 Hz.
Figure 11: The DC-normalized internal inductance.
Figure 12: The DC-normalized resistance.
78
Figure 13: Skin-effect phase angle.
The internal impedance phase angle increases until an
intermediary value equal to 0.785 or 45° (Fig. 13), after it the
reactive component become very high and the phase angle
increase slowly to approximately constant value 1.571 radian
or 90°.
For the frequencies from 0 to 10 GHz the internal
impedance gives approximately the same value as the
resistance, Fig. 9 represents the internal impedance module
too.
Fig. 14 shows the module of internal impedance and of the
total impedance. At the low frequency the two impedances
have the same values, corresponding approximately to the DC
resistance. When the frequency increases, the reactive parts of
the impedances increase too and the portion of the external
inductance in the total impedance produces two effects: an
impedance variation for the lower frequency than in case
without the external inductance and a higher impedance
increasing rate.
Figure 14: Skin-effect internal and total impedance.
Fig. 15 shows the phase angle of the internal and total
impedance. The addition of the external inductance has, as
directly consequence, an increase of the reactive part of the
impedance and the maximal phase angle equal to 1.571 radian
or 90° is reached for lower frequency than in case without the
external inductance.

Figure 15: Skin-effect internal and total phase angle.
Fig. 9 and 12 represent the Joule’s losses, per current unit
too. It is important to observe that the skin effect has a bigger
effect on the Joule’s losses, like for the resistance. The Joule’s
losses increase to 13 times its value when the frequency passes
to 10 4 Hz from 10 6 Hz for a wire radius a = 1 mm .
The internal impedance is formed with a real part and an
imaginary part, equivalent to a serial basic first order low pass
filter structure (Fig. 16 shows its cut frequency). If the supply
frequency increases, the filter’s band frequency increases too.
The wires with a smaller radius have a higher cut frequency.
As the resistance increases and the internal inductance
decreases as function of wires radius and frequency, a limit
exists after which the cut frequency increases linearly with the
supply frequency.
Figure 16: The coil internal cut frequency.
Fig. 17 shows the cut frequency of the total impedance, in
this case the addition of the constant external inductance
considered as in serial with the internal inductance produces a
decrease of the low pass filter cut frequency as function of the
supply frequency. The external inductance constant value is
the cause of this behavior.
79
Figure 17: The coil internal and total cut frequency.
V. CONCLUSIONS
The 3D inductance and impedance model with or without
the skin effect is successfully verified. The analysis of the
results are presented. The coil prototypes are manufactured to
compute the analysis and finalized the verifications with the
practical measurements.
Including the skin effect, we increase the precision of the
inductance and internal impedance 3D model. We can
compute the exactly internal (24) and external (11) inductance,
the internal and total impedance and its phase angle, the
resistance (23) of the coil, the Joule losses (25) and the cut
frequency (26). This gives the possibility to compute and
characterize all coil geometrical form with a higher precision.
REFERENCES
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[2] D. Popovic, “Introductory Engineering Electromagnetics”, Addison-
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[3] E. Knoepfel, “Magnetic field”, Jhon Wiley & Sons, 2000.
[4] Nathan Ida, “Numerical Modeling for Electromagnetic Non-Destructive
Evaluation”, Chapman & hall, 1995.
[5] Jinxing Shen, “Computational Electromagnetics using Boundary
Elements Advances in Modelling Eddy Currents”, Computational
Mechanics Publications, 1995.
[6] O.M.O. Gatous, J. Pissolato, “Frequency-dependent skin-effect
formulation for resistance and internal inductance of solid cylindrical
conductor”, IEE Proc. Microw. Antennas Propag., Vol. 151, No. 3, June
2004.
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solid and tubular cylindrical conductors under large parameters.” IEE
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model for transient analysis of lossy transmission lines”, Proc. IEEE,
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[10] Flux 3D online manual: http://www.cedrat.co