A Low-Loss Inductor Structure and Design Guidelines for High-Frequency Applications

Operation in the high-frequency (HF) regime (3-30 MHz) has potential for miniaturizing power electronics, but designing small efficient inductors at HF can be challenging. At these frequencies, losses due to skin and proximity effects are difficult to reduce, and gaps needed to keep B fields low in...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yang, Rachel S.(Rachel Shanting), Hanson, Alex Jordan, Reese, Bradley A., Sullivan, Charles R., Perreault, David J.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Format: Article
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2021
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130102
_version_ 1811076003019096064
author Yang, Rachel S.(Rachel Shanting)
Hanson, Alex Jordan
Reese, Bradley A.
Sullivan, Charles R.
Perreault, David J.
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Yang, Rachel S.(Rachel Shanting)
Hanson, Alex Jordan
Reese, Bradley A.
Sullivan, Charles R.
Perreault, David J.
author_sort Yang, Rachel S.(Rachel Shanting)
collection MIT
description Operation in the high-frequency (HF) regime (3-30 MHz) has potential for miniaturizing power electronics, but designing small efficient inductors at HF can be challenging. At these frequencies, losses due to skin and proximity effects are difficult to reduce, and gaps needed to keep B fields low in the core add fringing field loss. We propose a low-loss inductor structure with step-by-step design guidelines for HF applications. The structure achieves low loss through double-sided conduction in its single-layer winding and through quasi-distributed gaps. An example ~15 μH inductor designed using the proposed design guidelines achieved an experimental quality factor of 720 at 3 MHz and 2A (peak) of ac current. The inductor also improved a high-current-swing power converter operated at 1-3 MHz; at 250 W, the inductor reduced converter losses by 19%, compared to a conventional inductor design. In some cases, litz wire may further improve the performance of the proposed structure. With litz wire, the example inductor had an improved quality factor of 980. Thus, the proposed inductor geometry and design guidelines are suitable for small highly efficient inductors at HF and can thereby help realize high-frequency miniaturization of power electronics. (This paper is accompanied by an example Python script for generating preliminary designs, available in the online supplementary material).
first_indexed 2024-09-23T10:14:36Z
format Article
id mit-1721.1/130102
institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
last_indexed 2024-09-23T10:14:36Z
publishDate 2021
publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
record_format dspace
spelling mit-1721.1/1301022022-09-30T19:52:41Z A Low-Loss Inductor Structure and Design Guidelines for High-Frequency Applications Yang, Rachel S.(Rachel Shanting) Hanson, Alex Jordan Reese, Bradley A. Sullivan, Charles R. Perreault, David J. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics Operation in the high-frequency (HF) regime (3-30 MHz) has potential for miniaturizing power electronics, but designing small efficient inductors at HF can be challenging. At these frequencies, losses due to skin and proximity effects are difficult to reduce, and gaps needed to keep B fields low in the core add fringing field loss. We propose a low-loss inductor structure with step-by-step design guidelines for HF applications. The structure achieves low loss through double-sided conduction in its single-layer winding and through quasi-distributed gaps. An example ~15 μH inductor designed using the proposed design guidelines achieved an experimental quality factor of 720 at 3 MHz and 2A (peak) of ac current. The inductor also improved a high-current-swing power converter operated at 1-3 MHz; at 250 W, the inductor reduced converter losses by 19%, compared to a conventional inductor design. In some cases, litz wire may further improve the performance of the proposed structure. With litz wire, the example inductor had an improved quality factor of 980. Thus, the proposed inductor geometry and design guidelines are suitable for small highly efficient inductors at HF and can thereby help realize high-frequency miniaturization of power electronics. (This paper is accompanied by an example Python script for generating preliminary designs, available in the online supplementary material). National Science Foundation (Grants 1609240 and 1610719) 2021-03-08T20:55:22Z 2021-03-08T20:55:22Z 2019-10 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0885-8993 1941-0107 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130102 Yang, Rachel S. et al. "A Low-Loss Inductor Structure and Design Guidelines for High-Frequency Applications." IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics 34, 10 (October 2019): 9993 - 10005 © 2019 IEEE http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/tpel.2019.2892397 IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Prof. Perreault via Phoebe Ayers
spellingShingle Yang, Rachel S.(Rachel Shanting)
Hanson, Alex Jordan
Reese, Bradley A.
Sullivan, Charles R.
Perreault, David J.
A Low-Loss Inductor Structure and Design Guidelines for High-Frequency Applications
title A Low-Loss Inductor Structure and Design Guidelines for High-Frequency Applications
title_full A Low-Loss Inductor Structure and Design Guidelines for High-Frequency Applications
title_fullStr A Low-Loss Inductor Structure and Design Guidelines for High-Frequency Applications
title_full_unstemmed A Low-Loss Inductor Structure and Design Guidelines for High-Frequency Applications
title_short A Low-Loss Inductor Structure and Design Guidelines for High-Frequency Applications
title_sort low loss inductor structure and design guidelines for high frequency applications
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130102
work_keys_str_mv AT yangrachelsrachelshanting alowlossinductorstructureanddesignguidelinesforhighfrequencyapplications
AT hansonalexjordan alowlossinductorstructureanddesignguidelinesforhighfrequencyapplications
AT reesebradleya alowlossinductorstructureanddesignguidelinesforhighfrequencyapplications
AT sullivancharlesr alowlossinductorstructureanddesignguidelinesforhighfrequencyapplications
AT perreaultdavidj alowlossinductorstructureanddesignguidelinesforhighfrequencyapplications
AT yangrachelsrachelshanting lowlossinductorstructureanddesignguidelinesforhighfrequencyapplications
AT hansonalexjordan lowlossinductorstructureanddesignguidelinesforhighfrequencyapplications
AT reesebradleya lowlossinductorstructureanddesignguidelinesforhighfrequencyapplications
AT sullivancharlesr lowlossinductorstructureanddesignguidelinesforhighfrequencyapplications
AT perreaultdavidj lowlossinductorstructureanddesignguidelinesforhighfrequencyapplications