Fahd Ali Shifa 23rd October, 2010 Hysteresis

Hysteresis
Hysteresis is derived from Greek word meaning ‘deficiency’ or ‘lagging behind’. It was coined
by Sir James Alfred Ewing. It refers to a system with memory where responses
response to inputs are
generated with a time delay. In case of a normal dynamic system output of the system can be
determined by knowing the current inputs whereas in a hystere
hysteretic system we have to know the
current state of the system along with the current input values. To kno
knoww the current state of the
system we need to know the history of inputs applied to the system. Therefore it is necessary to
know the ‘path’ that the inputs followed before reaching the current input values.

As an example, when an iron piece is brought to a magnetic field it is magnetized. Then, even
after the removal of magnetic force it may retain the magnetism indefinitely. This magnetism
may only be removed if an opposite magnetic force is applied to the iron piece. This is the
concept used in hard diskss and some non non-self
self starting machines. In such machines, a residual
magnetism is present in the armature from when these machines were first energized. Due to
this, when they are started there residual magnetism interacts with the stator’s magnetic field and
a
they start to rotate. If, by some accident, their connections are inverted then this residual
magnetism is lost due to demagnetization of armature and they lose this capability of self
starting. Their rotors must then be re re-magnetized to achieve this functionality.
nctionality. (Note that the
single phase motors are not self-
self-starting
starting unless self starting mechanism (Like adding capacitors
or using shaded poles) is introduced in them. Multi
Multi-pole
pole machines are inherently self starting.)

Another example may be of a therm

thermostat.
ostat. Consider a thermostat that has only two states i.e. it is
either on or off. Let us suppose that it is programmed to turn off if the temperature exceeds 22oC
and turn on when the temperature drops below 18oC. Now if you know that the current
temperature is 20oC, then is it possible for you to predict if the thermostat is on or off? No,
because you don’t know what the past temperatures this device was exposed to. What is meant
by this is that you don’t know whether this temperature was attained from be low 18oC or from
below
above 22oC.. If this temperature was attained from below 18oC then the thermostat would be on
as per programming. In case this temperature was attained from above 22oC then naturally the
thermostat would be off.

For most hysteretic systems,, there is a very small time frame during which their dynamic
behavior is observed.
ved. After a long time interval, this dynamic behavior goes away. The dynamic
behavior can be explained on the basis of Barkhausen effect.
Fahd Ali Shifa 23rd October, 2010 Hysteresis

Barkhausen effect is the name given to the noise in the magnetic output of a ferromagnet when
the magnetizing force applied to it is changed. It is a series of sudden changes in the size and
orientations of ferromagnetic domains (microscopic clusters of aligned atomic magnets (spins))
that occur during the process of magnetizing or demagnetizing. This effect creates crackling
sound like the sound of crisps packet being pressed. This happens because some domains aligned
with external magnetic field increase in size by a sudden reversal of spins in neighboring
domains (especially as the magnetizing force becomes relatively strong). This is because; the
spins of neighboring atomic magnets in different domains tend to align themselves with each
other. So the domain, whose atomic spins are not in line with external magnetic force, aligns
itself with this external force. The tension between pulls of different magnetic domains creates
avalanching where a group of domains will flip in quick succession to align with the external
field. So the material magnetizes neither gradually nor all at once, but in fits and ends.

A term worth explaining in this discussion is magnetic hysteresis. When external magnetic field
is applied to a ferromagnetic material, the atomic dipoles inside it tend to align themselves with
this magnetic field. If a graph is plotted between magnetic field strength (H) and magnetic flux
density (B) it is an S shaped loop as shown below:

As we start to increase magnetic field strength we see that the magnetic flux density of the
material rises to a maximum at its saturation point. After this point the magnetic flux density
does not increase further as all the domains are completely magnetized. After this point as the
magnetic field strength is reduced to zero; even then the magnetic flux density does not reduce to
zero. This is due to residual magnetism and is called ‘remanence’. The thickness of this curve
depends on the ‘coercivity’ of the material.

Coercivity of a material is its ability to hold magnetism. It is the force required to reduce the
magnetism of the material to zero. Materials with high coercivity (mostly greater than 1) values
are called hard ferromagnetic materials and those with low values of coercivity (mostly less than
1) are called soft ferromagnetic materials.
Fahd Ali Shifa 23rd October, 2010 Hysteresis

References:

1. www.wikipedia.org
2. www.google.com