High-current regulation system based on an inductance with local saturations: design of the specific DC command

Purpose This paper aims to present an adapted DC power supply for a high-current regulation system based on an iron-core inductance with local saturations. The present work highlights a magnetic coupling between the power circuit and its command which creates a 100 Hz current component because of the non-linearity of the iron-core. With the simple structure well adapted to high current applications, it is not possible to remove this AC component superimposed on the DC current. A dedicated DC supply is proposed to maintain a stable average current in the command coils despite the 100 Hz current component. Design/methodology/approach The magnetic coupling between the power circuit and command coils is investigated and highlighted using finite element simulations and measurements. Based on these results, a dedicated DC power supply is designed and experimentally validated on the high-current regulation system. Findings Experimental observations confirm the good performance of the proposed control strategy. The DC supply provides a stable average command current despite the 100 Hz component impossible to remove. Originality/value Because of the 100 Hz current component superimposed on the DC command current, a standard DC power supply cannot be used. The main contribution of this work is designing of a power supply able to tune the average current in the command coils despite the 100 Hz current component inherent in the non-linearity which is the principle of local saturation inductance.