Patent Application
20230335328
Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claim is identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the present application are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57.
The invention generally relates to electrical inductors, particularly a low-profile coupled inductor.
In multi-phase DC-DC converters, particularly mechanically constrained micro module DC-DC converters, there is a need for higher operating efficiency and improved transient load response. However, DC-DC converters utilizing a conventional coupled inductor to perform the voltage conversion are limited by the size and performance of existing options. An improved low-profile multi-phase coupled inductor with higher power density is sought to enhance the performance of these DC-DC converters.
A low-profile coupled inductor is disclosed to provide compact and high performance magnetic coupling. The low-profile coupled inductor has an asymmetrical geometry, having a pair of complementary ferrite cores supporting a pair of conducting strips in an alternating serpentine pattern. One or more core gaps exist between the cores to create a strong flux coupling between adjacent magnetic fields of either conducting strip. The alternating serpentine conductors and core gaps serve to increase energy transfer between the magnetic fields and improve the overall power density of the low-profile coupled inductor.
In one aspect, a low-profile coupled inductor includes a first core having a first inner surface and a serpentine channel on the first inner surface formed by a plurality of projections, a second core having a second inner surface and a serpentine channel on the second inner surface formed by plurality of projections, first and second conducting strips, each of the first and second conducting strips having an inlet port and an outlet port, wherein the first conducting strip is disposed in the serpentine channel of the first core and the second conducting strip is disposed in the serpentine channel of the second core, and wherein each of the first and second conducting strips is disposed between the plurality of projections such that at least a portion of the first conducting strip that extends parallel to the second conducting strip is not coplanar with the second conducting strip.
In another aspect, a low-profile coupled inductor includes at least one ferrite core, a plurality of parallel projections extending from the ferrite core, first and second conducting strips, each of the first and second conducting strips having an inlet port and an outlet port, wherein each of the first and second conducting strips is disposed between the parallel projections such that at least a portion of the first conducting strip that extends parallel to the second conducting strip is not coplanar with the second conducting strip, and wherein the first and second conducting strips are configured such that both of the inlet ports of the first and second conducting strips are adjacent and both of the outlet ports of the first and second conducting strips are adjacent.
In yet another aspect, a method of manufacturing a low-profile coupled inductor includes providing a first core having a first inner surface and a serpentine channel on the first inner surface formed by a plurality of projections, providing a second core having a second inner surface and a serpentine channel on the second inner surface formed by plurality of projections, forming a first and a second conducting strip, each one of the first and second conducting strips having an inlet port and an outlet port, inserting the first conducting strip into the corresponding serpentine channel in the first core and inserting the second conducting strip into the corresponding serpentine channel in the second core, and mechanically connecting the first core and the second core together by at least two of the projections such that both of the inlet ports of the first and second conducting strips are adjacent and both of the outlet ports of the first and second conducting strips are adjacent.
The following detailed description of certain embodiments presents various descriptions of specific embodiments. However, the innovations described herein can be embodied in a multitude of different ways, for example, as defined and covered by the claims. In this description, reference is made to the drawings where like reference numerals can indicate identical or functionally similar elements. It will be understood that elements illustrated in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. Moreover, it will be understood that certain embodiments can include more elements than illustrated in a drawing and/or a subset of the elements illustrated in a drawing. Further, some embodiments can incorporate any suitable combination of features from two or more drawings.
A low-profile coupled inductor constructed according to the present invention provides compact and high performance magnetic coupling while avoiding harmful electromagnetic interference (EMI) that can result from unshielded magnetic fields. The low-profile coupled inductor has an asymmetrical coupled inductor geometry, with a pair of ferrite cores supporting a pair of conducting strips in an alternating serpentine pattern. One or more core gaps exist between the cores to create a strong flux coupling between adjacent magnetic fields of the conducting strips. The alternating serpentine conductors and core gaps improve the overall power density of the low-profile coupled inductor. The inductor has horizontally oriented legs to mount inside a micro module package, on a substrate, or in another constrained space. The coupled inductor has effectively the same performance as two conventional inductors while occupying half the surface area when mounted to a printed circuit board (PCB).
Referring initially to
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cores 110a/b including the projections 120a-140b can be formed of a ferrite ceramic (such as manganese-zinc ferrite having the formula MnaZn(1-a)Fe2O4, or nickel-zinc ferrite having the formula NiaZn(1-a)Fe2O4), but can be constructed of any material known to one skilled in the art.
Each of the first projections 120a/b, second projections 130a/b, and third projections 140a/b can have a substantially rectangular footprint where the projection interfaces with one of the cores 110a/b. Each core has a substantially rectangular upper surface 112a/b and lower surface 113a/b. As will be discussed in more detail herein, the upper and lower surfaces 112a-113b can be parallel planes that outline a substantially rectangular profile of the core 110a/b.
The positioning of the first, second, and third projections 120a-140b can alternate in elevation along the inner surface 111a/b. For example, the first projection 120a and the third projection 140a can each be connected to the inner surface 111a of the first core 110a such that a lower surface 121a/141a of the projection is substantially level with the lower surface 113a of the core. The second projection 130a can connect to the inner surface 111a such that an upper surface 132a of the projection is substantially level with the upper surface 112a of the core. In embodiments of the inductor 100 with more than three projections connected to each core 110a/b, adjacent projections alternate between being level with the upper surface 112a/b and the lower surface 113a/b.
The alternating projections 120a, 130a, and 140a form a first serpentine channel 150a along the inner surface 111a of the first core 110a. The alternating projections 120b, 130b, and 140b form a second serpentine channel 150b along the inner surface 111b of the second core 110b. The first serpentine channel 150a is configured to receive a first conducting strip 160a within the first core 110a, and the second serpentine channel 150b is configured to receive a second conducting strip 160b within the second core 110b. Each of the first and second conducting strips 160a/b is disposed within its respective serpentine channel 150a/b such that at least a portion of the first conducting strip that extends parallel to the second conducting strip is not coplanar with the second conducting strip. Due to the alternating pattern of the serpentine channels 150a/b, adjacent portions of each of the first and second conducting strips 160a/b can be positioned within the inductor 100 at opposite elevations to enhance magnetic coupling between the conducting strips. For example, in
Each conducting strip 160a/b has an input terminal 161a/b and an output terminal 162a/b located at opposite ends of the strip 160a/b. The four terminals 161a/b and 162a/b are provided to connect the low-profile coupled inductor 100 to additional circuit elements, and can be molded, electro-plated, or otherwise conditioned to easily integrate with an electronic circuit. For easier integration of the input terminals 161a/b and output terminals 162a/b into an electronic circuit (such as, by routing printed circuit board traces), the conducting strips 160a/b can be inserted into the cores such that when assembled, both input terminals 161a/b are positioned at one end of the inductor 100, and both output terminals 162a/b are positioned at an opposite end of the inductor.
The conducting strips 160a/b can be copper or copper alloy. In certain embodiments, the composition of each of the conducting strips 160a/b is at least 20% copper. In other embodiments, the conducting strips can be at least partially gold, silver, aluminum, zinc, or any other conductor known to one skilled in the art.
When the conducting strips 160a/b are installed in either core 110a/b, an end portion of each of the first core projections 120a, 130a, and 140a is provided to connect to a complementary end portion of each of the second core projections 120b, 130b, and 140b respectively. The complementary end portions fasten the first core 110a and the second core 110b together, as illustrated in
Referring now to
In
To greatly improve energy transfer between adjacent magnetic fields in the coupled inductor 100, a “core gap” 310 is provided in at least one end portion of one of the core projections 120a-140b. In the preferred embodiment of
In certain embodiments, a corner radius R is provided at one or more edges of the cores 110a/b or conducting strips 160a/b, as shown in
As shown in
A PCB designer can also route inductor windings similarly to a non-coupled inductor (such as, clockwise or counterclockwise) because of the same-side input terminals 161a/b and output terminals 162a/b. In the preferred embodiment, the inductor 100 has an inductance of approximately 300 nanohenries and a leakage inductance of approximately 70 nanohenries.
To assemble a low profile coupled inductor 100 according to the present invention, the first core 110a and second core 110b are first provided. The first conducting strip 160a is prepared and inserted into the serpentine channel 150a of the first core 110a, and the second conducting strip 160b is prepared and inserted into the serpentine channel 150b of the second core 110b. In certain embodiments, an adhesive or resin is applied to the conducting strips 160a/b or cores 110a/b to fix the conducting strips in place within the serpentine channels. The first core 110a and second core 110b are then fixed together, such as with an adhesive applied to the complementary end portions of the projections 120a-140b.
The method of preparing and inserting the conducting strips 160a/b depends on the stiffness and elastic modulus of the conducting strips. For example, a sufficiently flexible conducting strip 160a/b can be woven through each of the serpentine channels from one side of the inductor, which advantageously allows the conducting strips to be inserted or replaced after the inductor 100 is assembled.
Each conducting strip 160a/b is formed (such as, by bending or stamping) from a continuous metal strip to match the profile of the serpentine channel 150a/b and then inserted flush along the inner surface 111a/b of the core 110a/b. The conducting strips 160a/b can fill nearly the whole volume of the serpentine channels 150a/b to increase the current-carrying capacity and magnetic field strength of the inductor 100. Each of the conducting strips can be formed to certain specifications of thickness (such as, approximately 2.2 millimeters), depth (such as, approximately 2.0 to 2.5 millimeters), and width depending on the internal volume of each serpentine channel as formed by the plurality of projections 120-140. In certain embodiments, one or more of the plurality of projections can have a thickness of approximately 4.5 millimeters and a depth of approximately 6 millimeters. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the dimensions of the serpentine channels 150a/b and corresponding conducting strips 160a/b can vary significantly. A designer may select larger or smaller conducting strips to balance performance requirements of the inductor 100 with size constraints, materials properties, and other limiting factors.
In the preferred embodiment, at least 80% of the volume of each serpentine channel 150a/b is occupied by a conducting strip 160a/b. In other embodiments, upward of 90% or 95% of the volume of the serpentine channels 150a/b may be filled by the conducting strips 160a/b. In the continuous metal strip embodiment, the corner radius R of
In certain embodiments, the conducting strips 160a/b can be formed from several segments of a metal strip pre-cut to size, where the segments are joined by welding, brazing, soldering, or any other method known to one skilled in the art.
The opposing serpentine profiles of the channels 150a/b cause the conducting strips 160a/b to alternate in elevation. As electric current(s) passes through the conducting strips 160a/b, the conducting strips each emit a magnetic field. The positioning of the conductors 160a/b in substantially separate planes and the presence of one or more core gaps 310 between the cores 110a/b creates a strong magnetic flux coupling with improved energy transfer and power density in a low-profile and compact package.
Devices employing the above-described schemes can be implemented into various electronic devices and multimedia communication systems. Examples of the electronic devices can include, but are not limited to, consumer electronic products, parts of the consumer electronic products, electronic test equipment, communication infrastructure applications, etc. Further, the electronic device can include unfinished products, including those for communication, industrial, medical and automotive applications.
The foregoing description may refer to elements or features as being “connected” or “coupled” together. As used herein, unless expressly stated otherwise, “connected” means that one element/feature is directly or indirectly connected to another element/feature, and not necessarily mechanically. Likewise, unless expressly stated otherwise, “coupled” means that one element/feature is directly or indirectly coupled to another element/feature, and not necessarily mechanically. Thus, although the various schematics shown in the figures depict example arrangements of elements and components, additional intervening elements, devices, features, or components may be present in an actual embodiment (assuming that the functionality of the depicted circuits is not adversely affected).
Features, materials, characteristics, or groups described in conjunction with a particular aspect, embodiment, or example are to be understood to be applicable to any other aspect, embodiment or example described herein unless incompatible therewith. All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, can be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive. The protection is not restricted to the details of any foregoing embodiments. The protection extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of protection. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms. Furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in some embodiments, the actual steps taken in the processes illustrated and/or disclosed may differ from those shown in the figures. Depending on the embodiment, certain of the steps described above may be removed, others may be added. For example, the actual steps and/or order of steps taken in the disclosed processes may differ from those shown in the figure. Depending on the embodiment, certain of the steps described above may be removed, others may be added. Furthermore, the features and attributes of the specific embodiments disclosed above may be combined in different ways to form additional embodiments, all of which fall within the scope of the present disclosure.
Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “could”, “might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or states. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or states are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or states are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment. The terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in an open-ended fashion, and do not exclude additional elements, features, acts, operations, and so forth. Also, the term “or” is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term “or” means one, some, or all of the elements in the list. Further, the term “each,” as used herein, in addition to having its ordinary meaning, can mean any subset of a set of elements to which the term “each” is applied. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application, refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application.
Conjunctive language, such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y and Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise, is to be understood with the context as used in general to convey that an item, term, etc. may be either X, Y, or Z, or a combination thereof. Thus, such conjunctive language is not generally intended to imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least one of Y and at least one of Z to each be present.
Language of degree used herein, such as the terms “approximately,” “about,” “generally,” and “substantially” as used herein represent a value, amount, or characteristic close to the stated value, amount, or characteristic that still performs a desired function or achieves a desired result. For example, the terms “approximately”, “about”, “generally,” and “substantially” may refer to an amount that is within less than 10% of, within less than 5% of, within less than 1% of, within less than 0.1% of, and within less than 0.01% of the stated amount. As another example, in certain embodiments, the terms “generally parallel” and “substantially parallel” refer to a value, amount, or characteristic that departs from exactly parallel by less than or equal to 15 degrees, 10 degrees, 5 degrees, 3 degrees, 1 degree, or 0.1 degree.
Unless otherwise explicitly stated, articles such as “a” or “an” should generally be interpreted to include one or more described items. Accordingly, phrases such as “a device configured to” are intended to include one or more recited devices. Such one or more recited devices can also be collectively configured to carry out the stated recitations.
Although the present disclosure includes certain embodiments, examples and applications, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present disclosure extends beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof, including embodiments which do not provide all of the features and advantages set forth herein. Accordingly, the scope of the present disclosure is not intended to be limited by the specific disclosures of preferred embodiments herein, and may be defined by claims as presented herein or as presented in the future.
