Estimation of the Intrinsic Power Efficiency in Magnetoelectric Laminates Using Temperature Measurements

Magnetoelectric (ME) power efficiency is a more important property than the ME voltage or the current coefficients for power conversion applications. This paper introduces an analytical model that describes the relation between the external magnetic field and the power efficiency in layered ME composites. It is a two-phase model. The first fragment establishes the expression between the magnetic field strength and the temperature increase within an operating period. It uses a magneto-elasto-electric equivalent circuit model that was developed by Dong et al. Following previous investigations; the main loss source is the mechanical power dissipation. The second fragment links the power efficiency and the temperature increase in a heat-balanced system. This method is generally used by researchers in the piezoelectric field. The analytical model and the experimental data shows that the decrease of the power efficiency in a laminated composite is between 5% and 10% for a power density of 10 W/in(3) (0.61 W/cm(3)) to 30 W/in(3) (1.83 W/cm(3)). The failure mechanism/process of ME composites under high power density can be estimated/monitored by the proposed method for ME composites in practical applications.