Procedure to compare different design methods for implementation-ready high power inductors

摘要

In order to realize efficienct high power inductors with high power density, different design methods should be compared. This paper proposes a design procedure where different design methods are compared to find appropriate inductor designs for any given specification. Three design methods are compared in a 10kW and 20kW scenario. The three design methods differ in the choice of core material and winding type. The two chosen core types are ferrite cores and powder cores, and the two chosen winding types are copper foil and PCB. In the two scenarios, the design method that obtains the largest power density for the same efficiency, are when ferrite cores and PCB windings are utilized. In the 10kW scenario, up to 32% increase in power density is achieved for the same effiency when using the best design method compared with the second best. In the 20kW scenario, up to 38% increase in power density is achieved for the same effiency. Two inductor solutions are presented using ferrite core and PCB, and both have half-power efficiencies of approximately 99.9% at the inductor worst case operation point.