Analytic evaluation of three-phase short circuit demagnetization and hysteresis loss risk in rotor-surface-magnet Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Machines

Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM) have become widely used in applications because of high efficiency compared to synchronous machines with exciting winding or to induction motors. This feature of PMSM is achieved through the using the permanent magnets (PM) as the main excitation source. The magnetic properties of the PM have significant influence on all the PMSM characteristics. Recent observations of the PM material properties when used in rotating machines revealed that in all PMSMs the magnets do not necessarily operate in the second quadrant of the demagnetization curve which makes the magnets prone to hysteresis losses. Moreover, still no good analytical approach has not been derived for the magnetic flux density distribution along the PM during the different short circuits faults. The main task of this thesis is to derive simple analytical tool which can predict magnetic flux density distribution along the rotor-surface mounted PM in two cases: during normal operating mode and in the worst moment of time from the PM’s point of view of the three phase symmetrical short circuit. The surface mounted PMSMs were selected because of their prevalence and relatively simple construction. The proposed model is based on the combination of two theories: the theory of the magnetic circuit and space vector theory. The comparison of the results in case of the normal operating mode obtained from finite element software with the results calculated with the proposed model shows good accuracy of model in the parts of the PM which are most of all prone to hysteresis losses. The comparison of the results for three phase symmetrical short circuit revealed significant inaccuracy of the proposed model compared with results from finite element software. The analysis of the inaccuracy reasons was provided. The impact on the model of the Carter factor theory and assumption that air have permeability of the PM were analyzed. The propositions for the further model development are presented.

Many-body theory of laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization and angular momentum transfer in ferromagnetic transition metals

An electronic theory is developed, which describes the ultrafast demagnetization in itinerant ferromagnets following the absorption of a femtosecond laser pulse. The present work intends to elucidate the microscopic physics of this ultrafast phenomenon by identifying its fundamental mechanisms. In particular, it aims to reveal the nature of the involved spin excitations and angular-momentum transfer between spin and lattice, which are still subjects of intensive debate. In the first preliminary part of the thesis the initial stage of the laser-induced demagnetization process is considered. In this stage the electronic system is highly excited by spin-conserving elementary excitations involved in the laser-pulse absorption, while the spin or magnon degrees of freedom remain very weakly excited. The role of electron-hole excitations on the stability of the magnetic order of one- and two-dimensional 3d transition metals (TMs) is investigated by using ab initio density-functional theory. The results show that the local magnetic moments are remarkably stable even at very high levels of local energy density and, therefore, indicate that these moments preserve their identity throughout the entire demagnetization process. In the second main part of the thesis a many-body theory is proposed, which takes into account these local magnetic moments and the local character of the involved spin excitations such as spin fluctuations from the very beginning. In this approach the relevant valence 3d and 4p electrons are described in terms of a multiband model Hamiltonian which includes Coulomb interactions, interatomic hybridizations, spin-orbit interactions, as well as the coupling to the time-dependent laser field on the same footing. An exact numerical time evolution is performed for small ferromagnetic TM clusters. The dynamical simulations show that after ultra-short laser pulse absorption the magnetization of these clusters decreases on a time scale of hundred femtoseconds. In particular, the results reproduce the experimentally observed laser-induced demagnetization in ferromagnets and demonstrate that this effect can be explained in terms of the following purely electronic non-adiabatic mechanism: First, on a time scale of 10–100 fs after laser excitation the spin-orbit coupling yields local angular-momentum transfer between the spins and the electron orbits, while subsequently the orbital angular momentum is very rapidly quenched in the lattice on the time scale of one femtosecond due to interatomic electron hoppings. In combination, these two processes result in a demagnetization within hundred or a few hundred femtoseconds after laser-pulse absorption.

Selective destructive demagnetization of breccias from DSDP Hole 83-504B

The magnetization of four breccia samples from the Leg 83 section of DSDP Hole 504B was analyzed by selective destructive demagnetization in order to study the origin and stability of hydrothermally altered basalts. The NRM directions of the clasts for three of the four samples are randomly oriented and much more strongly magnetized than the bulk sample. Clasts which were individually demagnetized show two or more components of magnetization, but neither are coincident with those of the bulk sample, indicating that NRM was probably acquired prior to the consolidation of the breccia and suggesting that any overprint (VRM or otherwise) can be removed by AF demagnetization to at most 50 Oe. Reflected light microscopy and electron microprobe analysis of two samples show that the unexpectedly high NRM of the matrix regions is apparently the result of secondary magnetic phases precipitated from hydrothermal solutions.