This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 101148454 filed in Taiwan, R.O.C. on Dec. 19, 2012, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The disclosure relates to an inductor, and in particular, to a coupled inductor.
Electronic products are becoming light, thin, short, small and multifunctional, and currently, central processors, graphics processors and many other chips are supplied by a power supply with low-voltage and high-current. With such demand, power inductors are also being developed to be smaller in size and applicable to a multiphase power supply. Therefore, Multiphase coupled inductors were developed. In a conventional technology, a multiphase electrical transformer is provided, which includes a circuit and an inductor. The inductor is fitted (namely, matches) with the circuit and has different winding and connection manners. In the inductor, two coils are wound at a ring-shaped magnetic core. The secondary winding of the inductor is used to be coupled with inductors of other phases, and the secondary windings are connected in series to form a circuit. In another conventional technology, the magnetic core is designed to be ladder-shaped so as to reduce the length of winding, and further reduce the resistance of the winding. In still conventional technology, the magnetic core is divided into a first end magnetic core and a second end magnetic core. An M-winding connects the magnetic cores at two ends, forming an air gap, thereby solving the problem of the leakage inductance. In the above-mentioned technology, the block size of the magnetic core material is emphasized to shorten the winding and reduce the winding resistance, or is emphasized to form an air gap in the inductor, so as to improve the leakage inductance. However, how to improve or maintain the inductance under a large current is not mentioned.
A common coupled inductor includes a magnetic material, and copper wires are wound on the magnetic material to form a coil. When the current in the coil increases, the magnetic field in the magnetic material increases, correspondingly. However, when the magnetic field increases, the current also increases until the magnetic field of the magnetic material is saturated, the inductance decreases dramatically, leading to insufficient storage of the electric energy of the inductor on the circuit. Therefore, it is necessary to design a novel coupled inductor structure to solve the problem brought about by the increase of the current.
A coupled inductor according to an embodiment of the disclosure comprises a magnetic core, a first coil and a second coil. The magnetic core has a top surface and a bottom surface, and the top surface and a bottom surface opposite to each other. The first coil is located in the magnetic core and has a first coil input end and a first coil output end. The first coil is wound around a first axis in a first winding direction. The first coil is wound from the first coil input end and is extended to the first coil output end. The first axis passes through the top surface and the bottom surface. The second coil is located in the magnetic core and separated from the first coil. The second coil has a second coil input end and a second coil output end. The second coil is wound around a second axis in a second winding direction. The second coil is wound from the second coil input end and is extended to the second coil output end. The second axis passes through the top surface and the bottom surface. The first winding direction is opposite to the second winding direction. An orthographic projection of the first coil on the top surface is at least partially overlapped with an orthographic projection of the second coil on the top surface.
The disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below for illustration only, thus does not limit the disclosure, wherein:
In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.
Referring to
As shown in
The second coil 112, located inside the magnetic core 101, is separated from the first coil 111. The second coil 112 has a second coil input end 21 and a second coil output end 22. The second coil 112 is wound around a second axis Z2 in a second winding direction. The second coil 112 is wound from the second coil input end 21 and is extended to the second coil output end 22. The first winding direction is opposite to the second winding direction, so the second winding direction is a counterclockwise direction. In this embodiment, the first axis Z1 coincides with the second axis Z2, and the first axis Z1 is equal to the second axis Z2. However, for the convenience of description, the first axis Z1 and the second axis Z2 in
As shown in the
The coupled inductor 100 has a monolithic structure or a sintered structure. In this and some embodiments, the material of the magnetic core 101 is ferrite, or a soft magnetic material such as a nickel-copper-zinc ferrite or a nickel-magnesium-copper-zinc ferrite. The magnetic core 101 further has a first side surface 3 and a second side surface 4. The first side surface 3 and the second side surface 4 are opposite to each other. The first side surface 3 exposes a first coil input end 11 and a second coil input end 21. The second side surface 4 exposes a first coil output end 12 and a second coil output end 22. In the coupled inductor 100, the first side surface 3 is configured with a first coil input electrode 5 and a second coil input electrode 7. The second side surface 4 is configured with a first coil output electrode 6 and a second coil output electrode 8. The first coil input electrode 5 is electrically connected to the first coil input end 11, the second coil input electrode 7 is electrically connected to the second coil input end 21, the first coil output electrode 6 is electrically connected to the first coil output end 12, and the second coil output electrode 8 is electrically connected to the second coil output end 22. For example, the materials of the first coil input electrode 5, the second coil input electrode 7, the first coil output electrode 6, and the second coil output electrode 8 are silver. In a conventional inductor, the flux density is easily saturated under a high current because the magnetic field in the inductor increases. As a result, the magnetic permeability of the inductor decreases and the inductance also declines. In the structure of the coupled inductor 100 according to the disclosure, each coil generates a flux when being electrified, so two reverse (namely, opposite) magnetic fields are generated on the magnetic paths of the two coils, respectively, when a high current passes through the two coils. The first coil 111 and the second coil 112 are wound in opposite directions (clockwise and counterclockwise), so the generated and reversed fluxes are offset with each other, and the flux density is not easy to be saturated, thereby improving the inductance of the coupled inductor under a high current.
Referring to
The above embodiment is not intended to limit the number of coils in the disclosure. Referring to
As shown in
Nickel-copper-zinc ferrite powder with the magnetic permeability being 250 and PVB resin are mixed into slurry, and after doctor blade casting, the slurry is made into green sheets. Subsequently, silver wires are screen-printed on the green sheets. The winding directions of the first coil and the second coil, and the stacking structure are the same as that shown in
Referring to
The test results of the reverse coupled inductor in the first embodiment and the concurrent coupled inductor in the comparison embodiment of the first embodiment are shown in Table 1, in which I1 indicates the current that passes through the first coil, and I2 indicates the current that passes through the second coil.
Referring to
Nickel-copper-zinc ferrite powder with the magnetic permeability being 400 and PVB resin are mixed into slurry, and after doctor blade casting, the slurry is made into green sheets. Subsequently, silver wires are screen-printed on the green sheets. The first coil and the second coil are formed of silver wires. The winding directions of the first coil and the second coil, and the stacking structure are the same as that shown in
Referring to
In a coupled inductor according to the disclosure, a first coil and a second coil with opposite winding directions are disposed in an upper layer and a lower layer, respectively. By means of reverse coupling of the internal magnetic path when a current passes through the first coil and the second coil, the magnetic fields are offset with each other, thereby improving the inductance of the coupled inductor under a high current.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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101148454 | Dec 2012 | TW | national |