Printed Circuit Board Inductors Research Articles

A Novel Pyramid Winding for PCB Planar Inductors With Fewer Copper Layers and Lower AC Copper Loss

Relying on the advantages of small size, good controllability, and consistency, printed circuit board (PCB) inductors are being widely used. For PCB inductors, reducing copper loss is one of the key issues. Although some research works focus on fringing effect in PCB planar winding, there are few methods to reduce proximity loss for PCB inductor. Regarding the abovementioned issues, this letter first improves the Ferreira’s 1-D copper loss model to accommodate the core feature of PCB winding: variable number of turns per layer. With this model, pyramid theorem is proposed that putting the layer with fewer turns into positions farther away from the air gaps can lower the total winding loss. Based on the theorem, this letter proposes a novel PCB inductor-winding structure named pyramid winding, which has fewer (or equal) turns on layers farther from air gaps. Pyramid winding has less copper loss, fewer copper layers, smaller size, and lower cost. In the experiment, inductor prototypes with the same six turns and ferrite pot cores but different PCB winding arrangements are built for a 300-kHz 2700-W LLC converter. Tests on inductor resistance and converter efficiency are done, and the pyramid theorem and the effectiveness of pyramid winding are verified.

A Novel High-Current Planar Inductor With Cooling Fins Based on 3-D Printing

This letter proposed a novel high-current planar inductor with cooling fins based on 3-D printing and its copper winding is 3-D printed by using selective laser melting technology. The 3-D-printed winding is designed for high-current applications based on 3-D space and can work as both winding and cooling fins. Compared with conventional printed circuit board (PCB) planar inductor, the proposed planar inductor not only has better performance, such as low dc resistance (DCR), ac resistance, and temperature rise, without volume increasing, but also has the superiorities of conventional PCB planar magnetics, such as ease of manufacture and controllability. To verify its performance, a 100-A-output buck converter using the proposed inductor was fabricated and compared with another identical buck converter using a conventional PCB inductor with the same size. The DCR of the proposed inductor is almost one-fifth of the PCB inductor. Besides, the efficiency of the buck converter with the proposed inductor is always over 0.5% higher than that with PCB inductor under different loads and its maximum efficiency is nearly 1% higher at light load. Furthermore, the maximum temperature rise of the proposed inductor is 26.8 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">°</sup> C under full load, only one-third of the PCB planar inductor. In other words, the proposed inductor can work well under 100-A current, whereas the traditional PCB inductor cannot due to too high temperature (103.8 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">°</sup> C).

PCB Embedded Bondwire Inductors With Discrete Thin-Film Magnetic Core for Power Supply in Package

This paper details the design, assembly, and detailed characterization of printed circuit board (PCB) embedded thin magnetic film inductors for Power Supply in Package applications. Solenoidal inductors were assembled on copper tracks printed on PCB with wire bonds to complete the copper loop. Furthermore, the solenoid inductors have laminated amorphous soft magnetic thin films embedded between the two conductor layers. The devices have chemically thinned Vitrovac films laminated as core material. Three different designs of solenoid inductors with different numbers of turns are assembled and characterized. The assembled PCB inductor measured a highest quality factor of 8.5 for a three-turn device at 10 MHz.

Design and Implementation of PCB Inductors With Litz-Wire Structure for Conventional-Size Large-Signal Domestic Induction Heating Applications

Printed circuit board (PCB) implementations provide high repeatability and ease of manufacturing as well as potential cost savings for many applications. An optimization procedure is proposed for designing PCB inductors for use in domestic induction cooktops. Cables for classical inductors are built of multistranded round litz wire for efficiency reasons. A planar litz structure in a PCB has been applied to achieve a similar performance to that of traditional constructions (in terms of maximum output power, inductive efficiency, and thermal behavior). The inductor performance has been optimized by a finite-element-analysis-tool-based method taking into account the power losses in rectangular cross-sectional tracks of the cable as well as the geometrical constraints of PCB implementations and the requirements of the associated electronics. Finally, the proposed method has been validated by means of experimental measurements under large-signal conditions on a PCB inductor prototype.

Comparison of LTCC inductors on different substrate configurations with PCB inductor

Purpose – This paper presents performance comparison of RF inductors with the same lateral geometry applying different substrate configurations. The purpose of presented research is to demonstrate and verify some advantages of low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology in comparison to printed circuit board (PCB) technology based on the performance analysis of presented inductors in lower RF range. Design/methodology/approach – The presented inductors are meander structures fabricated in LTCC and PCB technology, with same line width and outer dimensions. Performance analysis of all configurations is based on measurement results and numerical simulations. Advantage of LTCC technology is demonstrated by application of substrate pattering in order to maintain and/or improve expected inductor performances. Findings – As expected, obtained results for the inductor with an air-gap show increase of the quality factor over 30 percent and widening of the operating frequency range by 50 percent when compared with the same LTCC structure without a gap. But what is more important the inductor with air-gap embedded inside LTCC stack maintains efficiency when compared to PCB inductor. This fact offers possibility of integration good quality components inside LTCC stack and reduction of used chip space. Originality/value – Advantages of LTCC with respect to PCB design are demonstrated by efficiency increase of the proposed inductor configurations by means of design optimization relying on substrate pattering and incensement of the packaging density by embedding inductors. The presented findings are verified through consistency of measurement results and simulated data.

Design and Optimization of Printed Circuit Board Inductors for Wireless Power Transfer System

Wireless power transfer via inductive link is becoming a popular choice as an alternate powering scheme for biomedical sensor electronics. Spiral printed circuit board (PCB) inductors are gaining attractions for wireless power transfer applications due to their various advantages over conventional inductors such as low-cost, batch fabrication, durability, manufacturability on flexible substrates, etc. In this work, design of a multi-spiral stacked solenoidal inductor for biomedical application in 13.56 MHz band is presented. Proposed stacking method enhances the inductance density of the inductor for a given area. This paper reports an optimization technique for design and implementation of the PCB inductors. The proposed scheme shows higher inductance and better figure-of-merit values compared to PCB inductors reported in literature, which are desirable for wireless power transfer system.

Higher order interactions in magneto-inductive waveguides

The properties of periodic chains of magnetically coupled L–C resonators supporting magneto-inductive (MI) waves are examined in the case when non-nearest neighbour interactions are significant. The variation of the coupling coefficient with separation is measured using resonant elements based on printed circuit board inductors and surface mount capacitors, and used to predict the S-parameters and dispersion characteristics of magnetoinductive waveguides. Good agreement with experimental measurements is obtained when higher order interactions are included. The significance of non-nearest neighbour interactions in more general MI wave devices is then highlighted in an example problem involving reflection from a waveguide discontinuity, and the influence of higher order evanescent waves is discussed.