The reliability of modeling and quality of design of a wide range of devices containing magnetic cores is determined by the proper accounting for hysteresis. It is well-known that the hysteresis properties of the material should be taken into account when modeling the transients in conducting ferromagnetic media [1]. At the same time there is an open question concerning the specific hysteresis model used. The most advanced history-dependent (HD) hysteresis models reproduce all main regularities of magnetization, including the �return-point-memory� and the �wiping-out� properties [2, 3]. The wages of the model accuracy is a significant growth in the volume of the input information required and the complication of the procedure of constructing the transition curves. For this reason we have studied a possible alternative to these models, namely a simple hysteresis model which does not follow the properties above. A simple implementation of such a history-independent (HI) model, where any trajectory in the B-H plane is completely determined by the last reversal point, is the construction of the transition curve by means of an interpolation between the first-order reversal curves obtained by experiment. In order to investigate the possibilities of the HI model, we have compared the steady-state dynamic loops obtained with the HD and HI models for different periodical regimes and different surrounding electrical circuits. It was found that in the regime where the average induction B changes its sign no more than two times during a period, the difference between the losses calculated with HD and HI models is practically negligible. We illustrate this by the comparison of the losses and the voltage waveforms in a pulse modulator, as well by the comparison of the losses in a stator tooth of an asynchronous machine (AM) with weak slot ripples. In the regimes with more frequent changes of the sign of dB/dt, the difference in the corresponding power losses could exceed 10-30% (illustrated by AM with strong slot ripples). All this allows us to recommend to start the design of a new device with the simple HI model. The necessity of using more accurate (but much more sophisticated) HD model becomes clear after analyzing the time variation of induction B.

* The work was supported financially by the GOA-project 99-200/4 and by the research project No 3604209B of FWO-Vlaanderen

[1] D.Philips, L.Dupre, J.Cnops, J.Melkebeek, J. MMM, vol 133, pp.540-543, 1994.
[2] I.D.Mayergoyz, Mathematical models of hysteresis. Springer, New York, 1991.
[3] S.E.Zirka and Yu.I.Moroz, IEEE Trans.Mag., vol. 35, no. 4, pp.2090-2096, 1999.