Sizing Your Power Converter's Magnetics (Part 1): Inductor Power Rating With Fixed Input Voltage

Focus:

When designing inductors and transformers for PWM-based power converters, engineers may rely on published formulas or design tools provided for a specific topology to determine the power rating of the power magnetic component. But a more analytical approach gives designers greater insight when the objective is optimizing the magnetics design for size, efficiency, cost or other goals. The methods of analysis described in this series are applicable to inductors and transformers for the three PWM-switch configurations and their derivatives. With this approach, the rating of the inductor or transformer can be determined at the start of the inductor design. Here in part 1, the author derives the design formulas for determining the power rating of the power inductor used in each of the three PWM switch configurations in cases where input voltage is fixed.

What you’ll learn:

• How to calculate the required power rating and therefore size of a power inductor for a given PWM switch configuration when input voltage is fixed
• How to determine the required power rating of an inductor at the start of an inductor design

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Author & Publication:

Dennis Feucht, Innovatia Laboratories, Cayo, Belize, How2Power Today, Apr 18 2016

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