Implementation of different layouts of a coreless

planar transformer for a flyback converter

Abdoulkarim Bouabana, Constantinos Sourkounis, Malte Mallach
Institute of Power Systems Technology and Power Mechatronics

Faculty for Electrical Engineering and Information Sciences, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

bouabana@enesys.rub.de, sourkounis@enesys.rub.de

Abstract

In this paper is shown the implementation of

different layouts of a coreless planar transformer for a

flyback converter. In addition, a O.SW DC/DC converter was
developed. The converter is based on a fly back converter for
simple applications. The transformer is designed in a form as a
spiral coil on a PCB. The special feature of the converter is that the
fly back converter is laid out without a core. The area (diameter) of
a spiral coil should be bigger as a coil with a core because the air is
not a good energy store. The advantage of a coreless transformer is
the PCB-Design. An analysis shows some results by different
geometry and frequency of the planar transformer.
Keywords: fly back converter, coreless transformer, planar
transformer, isolation voltage, no satiation

I.

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, the low cost DCIDC converter has a greater part

in the technical world, more as in the past. The development for
a fast and easy solution of an electrically isolated application is
searched. The DCIDC converters above all the flyback
converter show a way to create this kind of device.

The flyback converter is one of few DCIDC converter, which

has a simple construction. The advantage of this converter is in
comparison to a step-up/down or buck-boost the galvanic
isolation between the input and the output. The schematic of
the tlyback converter is shown in figure I.
In this chapter the explanation of the operating mode will
account at the border of continuous and discontinuous mode.
This means that in this operation the current is equal to zero at
the beginning and end of the period.
The gate-contact of the transistor is driven with a square
wave signal, which can be seen in figure 2a. In this case the
transistor works as a switch. At the beginning, the primary side
of the transformer is in a conductive phase.
In this phase the current ij increases linear and the secondary
side is currentless since the diode blocks. Once the transistor is
not conductive the current ij will be cut off and the voltage
changes the polarity due of the law of induction on the
transformer.
'[

The tlyback converter is now a component in many homely

electronic equipment, like a switching power supply for laptops,
charger for cell phone or for galvanic isolation.

Cin

The idea of this paper is to create a converter, which is stabile

for high isolation voltage. It is generally known that a great part
of converters use a ferrite core transformer. A coreless solution
is for low power utile, because the development will be in the
low-cost region and the transformer without a ferrite core will
not be dynamical overload.

Fig. I. schematic of a flyback converter

L.

The high isolation voltage (SkY) is necessary for some

applications. For the development of a current sensor for
example, a DC/DC converter with the ability of high isolation
voltage is needed.

tis

In the following chapters, the steps of the design of this low

cost DCIDC converter will be illustrated. Thus, the transformer,
which is a part of the flyback converter will be designed without
a ferrite core, like [ 1], [2], and [3]. An "air core" will be used
for the transmitted energy.

IpNA
eak-/

An Analysis should show, how a planar transformer is

dependent on the geometry and frequency.
Among other things the coreless converter provides the
possibility of a high isolation voltage (SkV), which is presently
rare and it is necessary for this application.
II.

OPERATING MODE OF A FLYBACK CONVERTER

978-1-4673-2421-2/12/$31.00 2012

IEEE

c)

rT

tis

Fig. 2. a) square wave signal, b) voltage curve, c) current curve

Thus the secondary side will be able to absorb the stored

energy of the primary coil, till the diode is conductive.

483

Therefore, the transfer of the energy occurs only while the

transistor is blocked. In figure 2b and 2c the voltage and current
curve is shown.
CALCULATION OF THE INDUCTANCE

III.

AND THE

I/O CAPACITANCE

In [4], [5] and [6] the equations for the current when the
transistor or the diode are conductive, are introduced. The
current ij increases according the equation (I) to the value (2)
by the time rT. The variable r is the duty cycle and the
parameter T is the period (frequency is! = 1/7).
In addition, the voltage fI describes the input voltage of the
converter and the voltage Uc;s is the threshold voltage of the
transistor.

iJ (t)=

UIn-U
J)S t

( 1)

The calculation of the inductance and capacitances provides

the minimum required values. The result for the three devises
are LzI4f.1H, CinzlOj.1F and CoutzlOj.1F (Uin=5V, !=IMHz,
a=O.5, Pr=O.5W).
With the value of the inductance we obtain an approach to
implement the planar transformer.
To design a coreless coil is not easy to realize. In this case,
[8] and [9] have some aids for the design of spiral coils.
In [ 10, 1 1] is a approximate formula (8) to calculate the
spiral coil. Figure 3 shows the dimension of a spiral coil.
The meaning of the parameter Sa and Sh is represented in the
same figure. The parameter r (average radius) can be calculated
with (8, third formeI). The number of turns and the inner radius
are described with the parameters Nand r i

(2)

.
Uin-UDS
fpeak =11 (rT)=
rT

-2
Lapprox =

O,0254(8r + l 1 (ra - r;))

After the time rT the transistor

is switched off and the
secondary side starts t o conduct. The mean value o f the
secondary current i2 is expressed in (3). The equation of the
mean value results from the area integral of the curve in figure
2c. The area is calculated with the integration limit of x= rT to
x=T.
(3)

(8)

- = a + r;
r ---

The necessary winding number for the application can be

extracted in [II]. The value of the inductance is known or must
be calculated.

The transformation ratio of the transformer is described with

the equation (4). The parameters Njand N2 are the number of
turns of the primary and the secondary side.
N2
u2
i1
n=-=-=NJ
uj
i2

(4)

The calculation of the inductance L can be performed by using

(5). Equation (5) results from the substitution of (2) in (3) by
means of (4).The formula of the inductance will be obtain by
means of the conversion.
L=

(l - r) r (Uin -V,)
2n

1
i2

(5)

The derivation of the relations to estimated the I/O capacitance

is presented in [7]. The final equations can be applied by means
of (6) and (7).

(Uin - U,) r2
2
I1U;n f L
1

out

=! (Uin U ) (l-r)r
2

i1U(Jut

nifL

(6)
Fig. 3. Geometric parameters of a spiral coil

(7)

484

DESIGN OF THE PLANAR TRANSFORMER

IV.

The developed transfonner consists of two spiral coils, which

are connected in series. Figure 4 shows the used layer structure
for the planar transformer.

The four layouts of the transformer (CIl to C14) are realised

on a test printed board. In the test the track width ( Sb) and the
number of turns (N) are varied to analyse the influence of the
inductance and the transformation ratio of the flyback
behaviour. The diameter of the coupling coils are:

(9)

Layer 1
2

and should not overrun 40mm. The separation between two

tracks (sa) is 150llm (minimum distance). The total inductance
is sum of the primary and secondary inductance (Ll and L2) . In
table I the different parameter of the four layouts are
represented.

Layer 2
Layer 3
1'

V.

Layer 4

In figure 5, the load dependence of the output voltage by

is presented. The best result is like in the previous
figures the layout 4.

2'

I MHz

Fig. 4. Layer structure for the planar transformer

UA

The design size of the coupled coils is decrease by means of

the four layer structure. In addition, the coupling can be
increase with this design structure. The inside ending of the
coils from layer 1 and 3 or rather 2 and 4 are connected by
means of via.
The aim of the layout should be a high inductance, a small
design size, a low internal resistence and a good coupling. But,
it is not possible to realise all requirements, because some
requirements have a "coupling". For example, an increasing of
the inductance value by increasing the number of turns means
an increased design size of the coil and internal resistance.
Therefore, in this development will be defined a good coupling
by a pretended inductance and a maximal design size.

PARAMETER OF DIFFERENT FOUR LAYOUTS

Cl1

Sbx

sax

[mm]

[mm]

[mm]

0.6

0.15

Nx
22

dax

Lx

[mm]

[IlH]

37

12.76

/V

10

CI4
CI3
CI2
CI1

20

40

60

80

Fig. 5. Load dependence of the output voltage by IMHz

n
1.13

Hi

C12

C13

C14

0.6

0.15

24

40

16.31

0.6

0.15

22

37

12.76

0.4

0.15

30

37

23.73

0.5

0.15

20

30

8.73

0.4

0.15

24

30.4

12.72

0.6

0.15

17

29.5

6.21

0.4

0.15

24

30.4

12.72

100

The next figures show the time responses of the currents and
voltage for the layout 4 (CI4) by the frequency of IMHz and
150kHz.

TABLE I

fix

ANALYSIS OF THE PLANAR FLYBACK CONVERTER

t / s

1.36

t / s

1.21

il1/mA

1.43

400
300
200
100

o---------------------------

Fig. 6. Time response of the primary signals by IMHz (C14)

485

t / s

In this measurement are used a load resistor of 34 1n. The used

frequency has an influence of the behaviour of the flyback. This
influence is visible in the voltage and current curves. In the
figure 6 and 7 the frequency has an value of IMHz and the
voltage and current curves have an damped oscillating
behaviour. In corporation to the figure 8 and 9 the used
frequency is 150kHz. There is only an low oscillating
behaviour.

lJ :
05

-100

15

.".
2

800

fb

::.
0

-------- L-
8 ------8.----,0-------

1
:1
1

t 5

19

u,/V

t s

If>

1
1

t 5

t s

10

t s

Fig. 10. Time response of the secondary signals by 150kHz

:1

u,/V

0.5

t/s

1.5

In Figure 1 1 the efficiency over the frequency is represented.

The efficiency was calculated by means of the ratio between the
output power and the input power. The measurement shows that
the a high efficiency is reachable in the frequency range of
200kHz until 300kHz with a value of 65%.
f"J/%

Fig. 8. Time response of the secondary signals by IMHz

(CI4)

RA = 100 0
R" = 150 (2

70

RA = 235 0

60

: )1
o

T,",

8:

----,J
--

'"

:
:

10

10

'r
-500

(CI4)

'
:

1'

Fig. 9. Time response of the primary signals by 150kHz

10

(CI4)

1
1
1

t s

t s

t s

RA = 340 0

50
40
30
20
10

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

f/ kHz

Fig. I I. Frequency dependence of the efficiency by four different loads

(CI4)

VI. CONCLUSIONS
The accomplished results approve the analytical example. The
development of a new DCIDC converter has fulfilled.
This new DC/DC converter has a planar transformer without a
ferrite core. It works only with a "air core". This construction
has a big advantage, it is designed for a high isolation voltage
by the PCB-Technologie. The measurement of the input and
output power shows an efficiency in the range of 65%. In
addition, the converter is resistive for a isolation voltage of
8kV.The EMI (electromagnetic interferance) and the EMC
(electromagnetic compapiltity) are two aspects, which can cause
problems. By reason of the swithing operations, the EMI must
be reduced. Therefore, the converter should be shield against
external disturbance and should not influence other device. This
low cost DC/DC converter is useful for many low power
applications. The regulation of the voltage was realized with
voltage regulator. In the future, the voltage will be control with
the control unit.
486

TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONiCS, VOL. 15, NO. 5,

SYMBOLS

COllt:

i2 :
Ipeak
L:

n:

Din:

Unlit :
U,:
w:
Indices:
approx.
ext:
in:
int:
L:
out:
peale
s:

I:

2:

,,:

SEPTEMBER 2000

area (m')
input capacitance (F)
output capacitance (F)
diode
diameter (m)
frequency (Hz)
current at the primary side (A)
current on at secondary side (A)
amplitude of i2 (A)

[3]

Tohss H., Saito Y., "Realization of a coreless transformer and its

application to a DC/DC converter" ELEKTROTECHN CAS . 44
(1993), NO. 7, 238-241

[4]

Steimel A., "Leistungselektronik I and Leistungselektronik II",

lecture notes, Bochum 2006

[5]

Schlienz U . , "Schaltnetzteile
Dimensionierung", Wiesbaden 2007

[6]

mean value of the current at the secondary side (A)

maximum current (A)
inductance (H)
approximate inductance (IlH)
transformation ratio
number of turns
number of turns at the primary side
number of turns at the secondary side
duty cycle (%)
external radius (m)
internal radius (m)
load resistor (Q)
separation between two tracks (m)
track width (mm)
time (s)
period (s)
transistor
input voltage (V)
output voltage (V)
pulse-with-modulated control voltage (V)
track width (m)

Schmidt-Walter H., "Switch Mode Power Supplies" lecture notes,

Darmstadt 2001

[7]

Hurley W.G., "Calculation of Self and Mtal Imbedances in Planar

Magnetic Structures", IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS,
VOL. 31, NO. 4, JULY 1995

[8]

Fernandes C. and Co, "Design Tssus of a Core-less Transformer

for a Contact-less Application ", Applied Power Electronics
Conference and Exposition, 2002. APEC 2002. Seventeenth
Annual IEEE, Volume 1, Issue, 2002 Page(s):339 - 345 voU

[9]

Fernandes C. and Co, "Coreless Magnetic Transformer Design

Procedure", Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 2005.
PESC apos; 05. IEEE 36th, Volume , Issue , 16-16 June 2005 pp.
1548 - 1554

[10]

NOhrmann D., "Das gro5e Werkbuch Elektronik", Francis

Verlag, Poing 1984, part 2 S.733-734

[11]

Wheeler H. A., "Simple Inductance Formulas for Radio Coils",

Proceedings o/the IRE ,Volume 16 1ssue 10, pp. 1398-1400 (1928)

und

ihre Peripherie:

BIOGRAPHIES

Dipl.-Ing. Abdoulkarim Bouabana received his Dipl.-Ing

degree in electrical engineering and information technology
from the Ruhr-University Bochum in 2008. Since 2008 he is a
scientific assistant at the Power System Technology Research
Group at the Ruhr-University Bochum. His main research area
is the low-loss sensors in the power engineering

approximate
external
input
infernal
load
output
maximum value
switch
primary side
secondary side
mean value
amplitude component
delta

Prof. Dr.-Ing Constantinos Sourkounis received his Dipl.-Ing

REFERENCES
[1]

Choi B., "Contactless energy transfer using planar printed circuit

board windings" Electronics Letters Volume 37, Issue 16, 2 Aug

[2]

Hui S.Y., "Coreless Planar Printed-Circuit-Board Transformers-A

Fundamental Concept for Signal and Energy Transfer", IEEE

200i pp. i007 -i009

and his Dr.-Ing degrees from the TU Clausthal in 1989 and

1994 respectively. After he received his Ph. D. at the Institute of
Electrical Power Engineering at the TU Clauthal, he occupied
the position of the chief engineer. In 2003 Dr.-Ing. Sourkounis
received his habilitation. Since 2003 he is professor at the Ruhr
University Bochum, heading the Power Sys-tem Technology
Research Group. His main research areas are mechatronic drive
systems, renewable energy sources, decentralised energy
systems supplied by renewable energy sources, and energy
supply systems for transportation systems.

487