www.ietdl.

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Published in IET Science, Measurement and Technology
Received on 30th July 2013
Revised on 26th November 2013
Accepted on 16th December 2013
doi: 10.1049/iet-smt.2013.0129

ISSN 1751-8822

Method for modelling of fluxgate sensor including

the geometry influence
Juping Li, Shibin Liu, Bo Guo, Xiaowei Hou, Shanglin Yang, Songsong Qiu
School of Electronics and Information, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xian 710129, Peoples Republic of China
E-mail: liushibin@nwpu.edu.cn

Abstract: This study proposes a new method of SPICE modelling of uxgate sensor that considers the geometry of the uxgate.
The main advantage of the method, vis-a-vis the traditional model using demagnetisation factor, is that the inhomogeneity of the
magnetisation is taken into consideration. The parameters including magnetic performance of core, the geometry of the uxgate
can be regulated easily. The proposed method was tested for a rod shape core uxgate, showing a good agreement with
experiment results.

Introduction

Fluxgates are the most suitable vector magnetic eld sensors,

which is applicable for measuring weak magnetic eld with a
resolution up to 0.1 nT and absolute precision of 1 nT (for
station magnetometers) to 100 nT (for low-cost portable
units) [1]; however, the structure of the probe and
processing circuits are relatively complicated. The
inconveniency is that the probe of uxgate is optimised
with nite element analysis method, whereas the processing
circuits are designed with SPICE. It will save a lot of time
and improve the performance if the design of uxgate probe
and processing circuits are both realised with the SPICE, so
an accurate uxgate SPICE model is very necessary. The
parameters including magnetic performance of core, the
geometry of the uxgate should be regulated easily in order
to use it conveniently.
On the aspect of the magnetic performance of core, the
previous reports [27] focus on the work to set up uxgate
SPICE model using the accurate hysteresis loop of magnetic
materials. For the geometry of the sensor, it is usually
described with the demagnetisation factor [8]. However, it
is impossible to generalise the demagnetisation factor
without some sort of averaging for non-ellipsoidal bodies
[9]. Therefore using demagnetisation factor is inaccurate
especially when the magnetic eld in the core is very
inhomogeneous. For most uxgates, the ellipsoidal core is
not used; therefore, it is necessary to set up a more accurate
uxgate SPICE model when the magnetic eld is not
uniform in the core. Experiment of a micro-uxgate made
up of two separated permalloy (Fe20Ni80) parallelepiped
cores [10] indicates that the model with demagnetisation
factor is inaccurate and the numerical integral method has a
good agreement with measurements.
Realisation of the integral equation method directly in the
SPICE is not suitable. First problem is that enmeshment
cannot be progressed in SPICE. Secondly, even the problem
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of enmeshment is resolved, there are still many variables

used in the magnetic eld equation formation that the net
list compilation work becomes very problematic and
complex. Moreover, it is required to start the net list
compilation work again, if the geometry of the coil and
core is changed. This is a problematic and time consuming
task.
This paper presents a new method of SPICE modelling of
uxgate sensor that considers the geometry of the uxgate.
With the new method, uxgate SPICE model was generated
automatically. After entering the hysteresis loop and the
geometry of the uxgate, the accurate uxgate SPICE
model can be built conveniently.

2 Fluxgate model based on integral equation

method
Considering the following problem: the uxgate core is
placed in the external eld (earth magnetic eld and eld
created by coils). The geometry and the ferromagnetic
behaviour law of the core material are known. We are
interested in the calculus of the effect by the external eld.
We analysed the uxgate with the numerical integral
equation method [1014] which has been extensively used
in theoretical studies and in numerical analysis. Compared
with nite element and nite difference methods of eld
solution, the air region does not have to be discretised with
the integral equation method, mesh generation is, in
general, very easy.
Q
The total magnetic eld intensity HQ at any
Q point
Q canQbe
decomposed
in
three
components:
H
=
H
+
H
e
mx + H d ,
Q
Q
Q
where H e and H mx are the
Q source elds, H e is created by
the excitation current,
H mx is the external measured
Q
geomagnetic eld, H d is curl free and is the demagnetising
eld created by the magnetised materials.
With the integral equation method [1014], only the
ferromagnetic core has to be discretised, assuming the core
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is meshed into n elements. The conditions used in this
analysis are as follows: (i) the magnetisation is assumed as
uniform in each element and (ii) the magnetic charge is
assumed to occur only at surface of the element.
Considering the core we analysed is very thin and the
excitation magnetic eld is parallel to the plane of the core,
magnetisation in the direction of the thickness is ignored. In
each element, the internal magnetic eld change with the
source eld

Q
h = h + h + h (m
ix
eix
mx
dix
i (hix , hiy ))
Q

hiy = he + hmy + hd (mi (hix , hiy ))

iy
iy

2.2

Demagnetisation eld

The equations for the demagnetisation eld are

Q

Hd =0

2 w = r m / m 0

2.1

Excitation eld

The excitation eld generated by the excitation coil is

described by the following equations

rm = m0 m

The magnetic eld because of all elements is calculated as

n


n
1 
hd =
wj =
4p j=1
j=1

where hi is the internal total magnetic eld in the ith element.

hm is the geomagnetic eld to be measured and hei is the
excitation eld in the ith element.
hdi is the demagnetisation
Q
eld in the ith element. mi is the magnetisation in the ith
element. Excitation eld and demagnetisation eld in each
element will be given in Sections 2.1 and 2.2.

Considering the demagnetising eld is curl free, we know that

it exists a scalar potential
corresponding to the demagnetising
Q
eld such that h d = w. Scalar potential satises the
following equation

i = 1, 2, . . . , n
(1)

m0 H d = rm = m0 m



( mj d s j )

r
Sj

(4)

where jj is the magnetic scalar potential because of the jth

element, r is the distance between the source point and the
eld point, Sj is the surface area of element j.
Substituting (2)(4) into (1), the uxgate is described with
the following equations

n


hix = gix | J | + hmx + (wijxx m jx + wijxy m jy )

j=1

n


hiy = giy | J | + hmy + (wijyx m jx + wijyy m jy )

i = 1, 2, . . . , n

j=1

He= J

(5)

m0 H e = 0

The excitation eld is divergence free. According to the Biot

Savart formula, the magnetic eld in the ith element induced
by the excitation current is
Q

h ei =

1
4p

Q
Q
 
r r
Q Q
J (r )  i
dV
=
g
J 

i
3
Q Q 
v
r

r
 i

Q Q

1
gi =
4p

(2)

nJ ( r i r )
Q Q 3 dV


v
ri r 

(3)

where n J is the direction of the

excitation current, and J is the
Q
excitation current density. r isQthe coordinate of the eld
point in the ith element and r is the coordinate of the
source point. V is the volume of the excitation coil.

Calculation of matrix elements wij is given in [12].

2.3

Magnetisation law model

The magnetic device can be simulated by solving (5) with the

non-linear behaviour of the material M(H ). A rod shape core
uxgate was analysed in this paper. Neglecting the transverse
magnetisation, the uxgate core material is described with the
following frequency-dependent hysteresis model, and the
circuit realisation of the curve is given in [15, 16].
In an external excitation magnetic eld H, the relation
between the internal magnetic eld Hs and the
magnetisation is (see (6))
where Ms is the saturation magnetisation of the core material.
Mirr is the irreversible part of magnetisation. Man is the
anhysteretic magnetisation. Ru, H0, H1, a0 and a1 are the
parameters determining the shape of the anhysteretic
magnetisation. The linear region is modelled by the
parameter Ru and the saturation by H0, H1, a0 and a1. The
parameter describes the coupling of ferromagnetic

Hs = H N

d Mirr (Hs )
Man (Hs ) Mirr (Hs )

d
/(1

c) a(Man (Hs ) Mirr (Hs ))

dH
k

(Man /Ms )
(Man /Ms )
(Man /Ms )
Hs + aM =
+ H0 exp
exp
Ru
a0
a0

(M
/M
)
(M
/M
)

an
s
an
s

exp
+H1 exp

a1
a1

M = c Man + (1 c) Mirr
B = m0 (Hs + M )
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(6)

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domains. The coefcient k is the pinning parameter which
determines the amount of energy dissipated, and is a
directional parameter which ensures that energy is always
lost through dissipation. is equal to 1. = 1 for dHs/dt
> 0 and = 1 for dHs/dt < 0. The coefcient c is a measure
of the amount of reversible change in magnetisation. N is
the parameter [16] related with the geometry and the
conductivity of the core.

Automatic generation of the SPICE model

We have given the uxgate model described with (5) and (6)
in Section 2. However, realisation of (5) directly in the SPICE
is not suitable. Firstly, the build and the enmeshment of the
geometric model cannot be realised directly in the SPICE.
Another problem is that (5) includes 2n sub-equations.
Every element needs a circuit to describe itself. All these
circuits are interrelated. If the traditional method is applied
to generate the net list, a large circuit needs to be drawn in
Workview. This is a problematic and time consuming task.
And it is required to start the net list compilation work
again, if the geometry of the coil and core is changed.
If the value of the coefcient matrices g and w in (5) was
calculated, the circuit for (5) can be achieved by ordinary
components (Fig. 1). The circuit in Fig. 1 will be described
in detail below. In this section, a method for generating the
uxgate SPICE model automatically through programming
is proposed. Fig. 2 shows the programme procedure for the
generation of the uxgate SPICE model. The input of
the programme is the geometry of the uxgate, including
the geometry model of the uxgate core and the coil. From
(5), it is observed that all sub-equations have the same
mathematical form, and the difference among these
sub-equations is only the coefcient. After the completion
of the calculations of coefcient matrices g and w in (5),
using loop statement and ofstream head le, circuits of all
sub-equations in (5) were written to the output le.
Once the calculations of coefcient matrices g and w in (5)
have been performed, the circuit for (5) can be realised with
resistors and controlled sources. Fig. 1 shows the circuit

Fig. 1 Circuit for one sub-equation in (5)

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Fig. 2 Programme used to generate the uxgate SPICE model

realisation of the sub-equation in (5). Source eld heix + hmx,

heiy + hmy(i = 1, , n) was realised by 2n current-controlled
voltage source. The bias of every current-controlled voltage
source is the geomagnetic eld to be measured. The
magnetisation intensity is obtained by calling the circuit of
the non-linear MH curve of the core material. The voltage
value across the resistor in Fig. 1 is the internal magnetic
eld of the core at the ith element. The voltage value of the
voltage-controlled voltage source Exi is the demagnetising
eld along the X-axis at the ith element. The voltage value
at node inxi is the sum of the excitation magnetic eld and
the geomagnetic eld to be measured along the X-axis at
the ith element.
The net list for sub-circuit a in Fig. 1 generated by the
programme is shown in Fig. 3. The input of this sub-circuit
is the external magnetic eld and the demagnetisation eld
at every element. The output is the internal magnetic eld
at every element. nhdx is the node corresponding to the

Fig. 3 Net list for sub-circuit a in Fig. 1

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demagnetisation eld at every element. From Fig. 1 and (5),
we observed that by calling the sub-circuit in Fig. 3 2n
times and the circuit for the MH curve of the core material
n times using loop statement, net list corresponding to (5) is
obtained with the programme.
From Fig. 2, it is observed that the problem that the build
and the enmeshment of geometric model cannot be realised
directly in the SPICE was solved. Compared with the
traditional method, generation of the net list through
programming is much more easy and quick. Taking the
circuit for the demagnetisation eld at the ith element as
example, the values of demagnetisation matrices wi1xx
wi2xxwinxx and wi1xy wi2xywinxy have to be set manually
with the traditional method. However, with our method,
parameter settings are controlled by the programme.
Cumbersome manual settings with the Workview were
avoided. Another advantage is that the large circuit was
avoided to be drawn. If the geometry of the sensor is
changed, it is required to draw a large circuit and set the
values of the circuit elements again with the traditional
method. However, with our method, the programme is still
useful by inputting the new geometry of the sensor, and the
new net list can be obtained automatically and quickly.
To sum up, the model consists merely of resistor, linear
dependent sources which are built-in models of the
widespread simulator SPICE. With the programme in
Fig. 2, if the knowledge of the geometry of the sensor is
known, the uxgate SPICE model described with (5) and
(6) was generated automatically and quickly. The input of
the SPICE model is excitation current. The internal
magnetic eld intensity and magnetisation intensity on each
element can be calculated accurately with SPICE.

Validation of the model

A rod shape core uxgate (Fig. 4a) taken as an example was

analysed using this method. The excitation winding and
search winding are implemented uniformly. The number of
turns of the excitation coil is 330, and the number of turns
of the pick up coil is 1100. The core material is 0.1 mm
thick, 30 mm length and 1 mm width permalloy. The tting
parameters of MH curve for the core were: = 1.0694
106, c = 0.3, k = 1.7143, Ms = 5.98 105, Ru = 0.3997,
h0 = 0.0001, h1 = 1.1263 1020, a0 = 0.0827, a1 = 0.0201
and N = 0.0014. Fig. 4b shows the circuit of the rod shape
core sensor with a sinusoidal excitation voltage. R is the

resistance of the excitation coil R = 13.3. The circuit for

the core is described in Section 3.
4.1 Reduction of computation time using
symmetry
To reduce the nodes in the net list and the computation time,
symmetry of the sensor is analysed. When symmetry exists,
half, quarter or eighth models can be solved to save
computation time because the number of elements was
reduced. The core is meshed using 8-node hexahedral
element. Fig. 5 is the top view of the core. The excitation
magnetic eld and the external measured eld are along
X-axis. Owing to symmetry of the magnetic eld, the
relationship among the magnetisation at the jth element and
the magnetisations at other elements is
m jx = m j+15x = m j+30x = m j+45x ,

j = 1, . . . , 15

Therefore, the mathematic model for the core is

hix = gix J + hmx +

15


wdijxx m jx

(7)

j=1

where
wdijxx = wijxx + wi(j+15)xx + wi(j+30)xx + wi(j+45)xx
4.2 Results with proposed SPICE model and
experiment
The testing system includes a function generator (Agilent
33220A), a power amplier (NF HSA4011), a multimeter
(Agilent 34401A), an oscilloscope (Agilent inniium
54830D), a power supply (Agilent E3610A), a solenoid
(length 30 cm, diameter 3 cm and 2300 turns) and a
magnetometer (CMT-6 W). The schematic diagram of the
testing system is showed in Fig. 6. The signal used to
derive the sensor was generated by the function generator
and amplied by the power amplier. The output voltage

Fig. 5 Meshes of the core

Fig. 4 Fluxgate sensor with rod shape core and its circuits
a Rod shape core uxgate
b Circuit of the rod shape core sensor
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Fig. 6 Schematic diagram of the testing system

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signal generated by the detection coil of the sensor was
detected and showed in channel 2 of the oscilloscope. And
the Channel 1 was used to detect and display the excitation
current waveform. The measured magnetic eld was
generated using the power supply and the solenoids. The
strength of the external magnetic eld was calibrated by the
current value measured by the multimeter. To eliminate
interference, the system was placed away from the
ferromagnetic materials and before each test the zero elds
was calibrated using the magnetometer.
From the circuit of the uxgate sensor in Fig. 4b, we
obtained the mathematical model
die
U1 (t) + U2 (t)
dt

15


Fix d (hix + mix )
U1(2) (t) =
dt
i=1
U (t) = ie R + 2 L

(8)

Fix = 4m0 (Ne /l li)S = 4m0 (Ne /l) Vi

where U(t) is the excitation voltage, R is the resistance of the
excitation coil with value of 13.3, ie is the current in the
excitation coil. In Section 2, the excitation magnetic eld
was expressed with the excitation current density J. Here,
the current is also expressed by the excitation current
density ie = JSc/Ne, where Sc is the cross-section of the
excitation solenoid (Fig. 4a) which is made up of the
excitation coils. The cross-section is parallel with the major
axis of the rod core. Ne is the number of the excitation coil.
L is the hollow inductance of the excitation coil with value
of 6.1 105 H. Coefcient 2 appears because there are two
excitation coils. U1(t) and U2(t) are the induction voltage of
the excitation coil. With different inputs ie and ie, U1(t)
and U2(t) are obtained, respectively, by calling the circuit
for the core two times. Coefcient 4 appears because a
quarter of the model was used. l is the length of the core, li
is the length of the ith element, S is the cross-section of the
core and Vi is the volume of the ith element.
Observing Figs. 1 and 4a, it is found that if the excitation
voltage, MH law of the core material and the external

Fig. 8 Comparison between simulation and experiment

Fig. 7 Simulated (dashed curve) and experiment (solid curve)

hysteresis loop of the rod core with 2 V peak amplitude sinusoidal
voltage excitation at 1 kHz
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a Simulated (dashed curve) and experiment (solid curve) currents in

the excitation coil with 1 V peak amplitude sinusoidal voltage excitation at
1 kHz and an external measured eld 40 T
b Simulated (dashed curve) and experiment (solid curve) output waveforms
with 1 V peak amplitude sinusoidal voltage excitation at 1 kHz and an
external measured eld 40 T
c Amplitude of the second harmonic at 40 T against excitation voltage
amplitude, ( ) experiment result and () SPICE model result

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measured eld were given, the current in the excitation coil,
the magnetic eld and the magnetisation of every element
can be solved at every moment from (6)(8).
In absence of external measured eld, the measured and
computed hysteresis loops of the rod core driven by 2 V
peak amplitude sinusoidal voltage excitation at 1 kHz were
shown in Fig. 7. The measured hysteresis loop of the rod
core can be obtained using

1
B(t) =
V (t) dt
Np S
H(t) =

Ne
i (t)
l e

where Np is the number of turns of the pick up coil, V(t) is the

voltage across the pick up coil. The core is inserted into only
one coil, and the other coil is used to compensate for the
magnetic eld and any common-mode interference.
With 1 V peak amplitude sinusoidal voltage excitation at 1
kHz and an external measured eld 40 T, comparison
between the experiment and the simulation result are shown
in Figs. 8a and b. Dashed curve (solid curve) in Fig. 8a is
the simulation (experiment) current in the excitation coil.
Dashed curve (solid curve) in Fig. 8b is the simulation
(experiment) output voltage. Sensitivity of the second
harmonic against excitation voltage amplitude is given in
Fig. 8c. It can be observed that the simulation results with
our SPICE model agree well with the experiment results.
The computation time for the dashed curves in Figs. 8a and
b is about 8.89 s. We have measured the central processing
unit time taken for the generation of the net list. The time
needed to generating the net list was 0.0103 s.
With the traditional SPICE model, the core is described
with one macroscopic magnetisation using demagnetisation
factor. The distribution of the magnetisation was not
considered. If the actual magnetic eld is inhomogeneous,
one macroscopic magnetisation is inaccurate. With our
SPICE model, the magnetisation in each element can be
considered accurately. In reality, the magnetic eld varies
with the position in the core. Saturation occurs rst in the
middle region of the core, and then the two sides.
Demagnetisation factor cannot include this information
correctly.

Conclusion

To incorporate the geometry of the uxgate into the uxgate

SPICE model, a method of SPICE modelling of uxgate
sensor was proposed. If the knowledge of the geometry of
the sensor is known, net lists can be obtained with our
method quickly. The parameters including magnetic
performance of core, the geometry of the uxgate can be
regulated easily. Experiment result of a rod shape core

IET Sci. Meas. Technol., 2014, Vol. 8, Iss. 4, pp. 214219

doi: 10.1049/iet-smt.2013.0129

uxgate has conrmed this approach. The model obtained

through the new method was suitable for system design of
uxgate. The analysis design of probe and processing
circuits could both be completed. Hence, a time-saving
method with better effect was achieved. The method can
also be applied to other magnetic devices.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation

of China. (no. 60874101), Higher School Specialized
Research
Fund
for
Doctoral
Program
(no.
20126102110031) and Graduate Students Entrepreneurial
Seed Fund of Northwest Polytechnical University (nos.
Z2013074 and Z2013075).

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