TEL-1160/1166 Power Electronic Components Exercise 5 / 2011-2012 / T.Suntio & J.

Huusari Power inductor design for CCM buck converter: Solution 1. (a) First we recall that there are two factors contributing to the core ux: Inductor DC current which forms the DC ux density and the inductor time-depended voltage, which generates the alternating ux density and hence the alternating current within the core. The sum of the DC ux density and the amplitude of the AC ux density must remain well under the saturation value at all conditions. According to magnetic circuit theory, a current (i) generates a magnetic ux () in a certain core (R) when driven through a winding with N turns: N i = R. (1)

The ux can be expressed (simplied) as the product of ux density and the core cross-sectional area: N i = RBA. (2)

Hence the maximum number of turns is found when i = imax and B = Bmax , yielding Nmax = RBmax A . imax (3)

Now that the desired ripple current is given, the connection between the design parameters and the unknown variable, the inductance, must be found. Using the standard element equation uL (t) = L we quickly see that L= uL t uL (t)dt = . diL (t) iL (5) d iL (t). dt (4)

From the waveforms we note that there are two repeating periods: During the other the inductor voltage is positive, which forces the ux increase and similarly, during the other period the negative voltage drives the ux down. Hence, using the positive part of the switching cycle (DTs ), we can write L= (Uin Uo )DTs uL DTs = . iL,pp iL,pp (6)

Now that the desired inductance is known, we write the second equation yielding the minimum amount of turns to meet the desired inductance: Nmin = L . AL (7)

The AL -value, which is physically the inverse of the total reluctance Rtot is almost 1

TEL-1160/1166 Power Electronic Components Exercise 5 / 2011-2012 / T.Suntio & J.Huusari always given in the core datasheet. In the unlikely event of not knowing this parameter, it can be calculated from the general reluctance equation (including core and a possible air gap) Rtot = Rcore + Rgap = lgap le 1 + = . 0 r Ae 0 Ae AL (8)

The parameter le is the magnetic path length of the core, presented in the datasheet. The selected core must have Nmin < Nmax , otherwise the core will saturate. Moreover, due to design margins and the fact that the core relative permeability r drops as the DC ux density increases, a rule of thumb of Nmin 0.5 Nmax can be used. These are the general equations governing the operation of an inductor with DC current. All design methods are based on these fundamental concepts! (b) Now that we have the equations, the best option is to form an excel-spreadsheet for easy comparison of dierent core candidates. This is a preferable technique, since all the candidates can be compared quickly and the desired math operations done conveniently. As recommended, we now analyze candidates from CWS Bytemark line of products (other notable core manufacturers are Epcos Ag, Micrometals Inc., Ferroxcube, Arnold Magnetics, to name but a few. For comparison purposes we select Sendust, High Flux and MPP types for cores of equal physical size. It should be noted that there are thousands of dierent material+size options, so selecting a suitable size of core might require few iteration steps. Or the designer can use the design tools provided by the manufacturer to speed up the design and/or the selection of the core size. However, due to the spreadsheet-aided design this comparison is done quickly, even if the initial choice was unsuitable. And of course, as the designer gets more experienced, this process naturally quickens as well. As the dierent core types are compared, attention must be paid on the number of turns in terms of maintaining low copper losses and the relationships between the Nmin and Nmax and even the physical size of the core - a large core might generate less losses, but at the expense of huge physical size and increased costs! An important fact is to see the dierence between the zero-bias permeability and the permeability with the operating point DC bias: To meet the ripple demand at DC bias a greater number of turns must be used! Core materials tend to behave dierently as a function of DC bias, but usually cores with larger relative permeability experience greater drop in permeability as a function of the DC ux. The core AC ux density yields core losses since the alternating ux turns the magnetic dipoles within the core - a higher ux density amplitude means more losses. This is usually a signicant constraint at high-frequency inductors. The manufacturers provide information on how the core specic loss (watts per volume) change with 2

TEL-1160/1166 Power Electronic Components Exercise 5 / 2011-2012 / T.Suntio & J.Huusari respect to frequency and the ux density amplitude. Using these, the core comparison must include some kind of decent estimation for core losses! See the accompanying spreadsheet le for the design procedure: Step 1: Gather the core candidate information Step 2: Calculate Nmin , Nmax and select initial value for turns (Nsel ) Step 3: Calculate the resulting AC ux density with Nsel , calculate the core losses with the specic core loss (PV ) found from datasheet. Step 4: Estimate the DC magnetic eld intensity within the core using the datasheets and estimate the permeability drop and calculate the corrected number of turns to compensate for the permeability drop. Step 5: Select the nal number of turns and summarize the operating point parameters. (c) The wire selection is depended on the number of turns, the operating frequency and the current levels. In most cases an inductor with signicant DC current compared to AC current can be wound with a thick wire, since the high-frequency eects are negligible. However, a good design practice is to always analyze both the DC and the AC losses! The DC losses are easy to calculate, as the wire DC resistance is a function of the winding length and the wire cross-sectional area. Nearly always the conductor is copper, and again a good practice is to use the resistivity value @ 100 degrees Celsius instead of the 25 degrees value to model the real operating conditions. The DC resistance of a winding is Rdc = N (T )M LT , Aw (9)

where M LT is mean length per turn (given on datasheets - or at least the core physical dimensions are with which this number can be estimated), N is the number of turns and Aw the wire area. If multiple parallel strands are used, naturally the Aw is multiplied with the number of the strands. Using several thin wires in parallel instead if a single thick wire lowers the AC resistance and improves eciency, but might generate poor result with parasitic capacitance. The AC losses usually included within the analysis are the skin eect-related losses and the proximity losses. Skin eect describes the phenomenon of high-frequency current owing near the conductor surface rather than utilizing the entire conductor area. Proximity eect takes into account the fact that nearby conductors with AC currents induce eddy currents within each other resulting in increases losses - an increased AC resistance models this eect. Since these eects are explained suciently well in many sources, such as in Wikipedia, they are not discussed further here. The students are advised to look for these articles - the same issues are discussed in most of the lecture books made of electromagnetism. 3

TEL-1160/1166 Power Electronic Components Exercise 5 / 2011-2012 / T.Suntio & J.Huusari In this exercise, both eects are analyzed and the important parameters are explained on the spreadsheet. The Dowell method yields a relationship of the AC resistance and the DC resistance calculated previously. (d) Summarizing the DC copper losses, the AC copper losses and the core losses we obtain the total estimation for the inductor losses, which is used to approximate the core temperature rise. The core temperature rise can be estimated by a very simple formula (found experimentally): T = Ploss AT
0.833

(10)

where Ploss comprises all losses (in milliwatts) and AT the core surface area that participates in heat transfer (in square centimeters). The main idea is that all losses are assumed to be generated within the core, and the core surface dissipates the heat. This yields sucient results, but usually requires the calculation of the AT . It should be noted that vertically mounted cores tend to stay cooler due to better heat exchange than horizontally mounted ones. Furthermore, some manufacturers give information on temperature rise for a given core as a function of the operating conditions - these can be used as well.