This application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 102114018, filed Apr. 19, 2013, which is herein incorporated by reference.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an inductor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a nonlinear inductor with a set of the asymmetrical magnetic resistance.
2. Description of Related Art
In an electrical system driven by a variable-frequency drive (VFD), there are signals switching in high frequency existing in the circuitry of the VFD and the motor, which may result in unnecessary electromagnetic interference, so as to reduce the power factor of the VFD and generate a harmonic distortion on the output loading.
The total harmonic distortion is even higher when the VFD is at low current operation. If the harmonic distortion is too high, the performance of the system may be reduced, and the devices in the system may even be damaged. To reduce the harmonic distortion, a nonlinear inductor is commonly connected to the VFD in series.
In general, a nonlinear inductor with the higher inductance may scientifically reduce the harmonic distortion. But if the inductance is too high, the voltage drops in the output terminals of the VFD at the high current operation. Therefore, the nonlinear inductor is generally used to achieve the feature of the high inductance at the low current operation and the low inductance at the high current operation that satisfy the inductance requirements at the low or the high current operation.
The shape variation of the air gaps, which is build with the extra mold opening, is often applied to implement the nonlinear inductor; however, such shape variation need additional molds in fabrication and thus extra cost.
One aspect of this invention provides a nonlinear inductor, which has multiple ways to adjust the inductance without the extra mold opening to achieve the adjustment of the inductance in the different applications.
The nonlinear inductor includes a first magnetic core, a second magnetic core, a third magnetic core, a fourth magnetic core, a fifth magnetic core and a coil unit. The second magnetic core is disposed in parallel with the first magnetic core. The third magnetic core, the fourth magnetic core and the fifth magnetic core are vertically disposed between the first magnetic core and the second magnetic core. The fourth magnetic core and the fifth magnetic are disposed at the sides of the third magnetic core. The coil unit winds over the third magnetic core, wherein a DC current passes through the coil unit to generate an inductive magnetic flux, a first magnetic resistance of the fourth magnetic core passed through by the inductive magnetic flux is different from a second magnetic resistance of the fifth magnetic core passed through by the inductive magnetic flux.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a first air gap respectively exists between the fourth magnetic core and the first magnetic core and between the fourth magnetic core and the second magnetic core, and a second air gap respectively exists between the fifth magnetic core and the first magnetic core and between the fifth magnetic core and the second magnetic core, wherein the width of the first air gap and the second air gap is different, thereby forming the different first magnetic resistance and the second magnetic resistance.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a third air gap respectively exists between the third magnetic core and the first magnetic core and between the third magnetic core and the second magnetic core, wherein the first air gaps are wider than the third air gaps, and the third air gaps are wider than the second air gaps.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a first air gap exists between the fourth magnetic core and the second magnetic core, and a second air gap exists between the fifth magnetic core and the second magnetic core, the width of the first air gap is different from the width of the second air gap, thereby forming the different first magnetic resistance and the second magnetic resistance.
According to aforementioned embodiment of the present invention, the third magnetic core, the fourth magnetic core and the fifth magnetic core are directly connected to the first magnetic core, and a third air gap exists between the third magnetic core and the second magnetic core, wherein the first air gap is wider than the third air gap, and the third air gap is wider than the second air gap.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the cross-sectional area of the fourth magnetic core is different from the cross-sectional area of the fifth magnetic core, thereby forming the different first magnetic resistance and the second magnetic resistance.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the third magnetic core is made of grain-orient electrical steel sheets, and the first magnetic core, the second magnetic core, the fourth magnetic core and the fifth magnetic core are made of non-orient electrical steel sheets.
In summary, the nonlinear inductor in the embodiments of the present invention has multiple ways to adjust the inductance without the extra mold opening to achieve the high inductance at the low current operation and the low inductance at the high current operation.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows:
Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.
As used herein, “around”, “about” or “approximately” shall generally mean within 20 percent, preferably within 10 percent, and more preferably within 5 percent of a given value or range. Numerical quantities given herein are approximate, meaning that the term “around”, “about” or “approximately” can be inferred if not expressly stated.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, third etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another element, component, region, layer or section. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the present invention.
The following paragraphs will discuss some embodiments about the different first magnetic resistance and the second magnetic resistance in this invention. Referring to
Moreover, as shown in
In one embodiment, the width of the aforementioned first air gap g1 is wider than the width of the third air gap g3, and the width of the third air gap g3 is wider than the width of the second air gaps g2. For example, the width of the first air gap g1 may be about 0.9 millimeter (mm), the width of the second air gap g2 may be about 0.225 mm, and the width of the third air gap g3 may be about 0.45 mm. The corresponding diagram of the relation between the effective inductance and the current in this example is shown as the curve 300 with the solid line in the
Furthermore, we can analyze the nonlinear inductor 200 as shown in
Further, when the nonlinear inductor 200 operates at the high current operation, the magnet flux can be received by the fifth magnetic core 250 towards saturation, the corresponding effective magnetic resistance Rg2 becomes higher, the magnet flux generated from the third magnetic core 203 and the coil unit 260 begin passing through the Rg1, that is, the density of the fourth magnetic core 240 is increasing. At this case, the effective magnetic resistance Rtotal of the nonlinear inductor 200 can be modified to: Rtotal≈2Rg3+2Rg1. In summary, at the high current operation, the effective inductance of the nonlinear inductor 200 is more related to the effective magnetic resistance Rg1 of the first air gap g1.
Then, in general, when the effective magnetic resistance of the inductor is higher, the effective inductance is lower, and the width of the air gap is proportion to the magnetic resistance. Hence, when the width of the air gap is wider, the effective inductance of the inductor is lower, we can achieve the configuration of the different magnetic resistance Rg1 and the magnetic resistance Rg2 by adjusting the width of the first air gap g1 and the second air gap g2 to form the feature of the different effective inductance at the different current operations.
For example, the width of the first air gap g1 is about 1.35 mm, the width of the second air gap g2 is about 0.45 mm, and the third air gap g3 is about 0.9 mm. The corresponding diagram of the relation between the effective inductance and the current in this example is shown as the curve 570 with the solid line in the
In addition, the magnetic resistance of the magnetic core is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area of the magnetic core. In the condition of the different air gap, we can further adjust the amount of the magnetic resistance by adjusting the cross-sectional area of the magnetic core. For example, referring to the
For example, as aforementioned description, the width of the first air gap g1 may be about 0.9 mm, the width of the second air gap g2 may be about 0.225 mm, and the width of the third air gap g3 may be about 0.45 mm. The width D1 of the cross-sectional area of the fourth magnetic core 640 may be about 22.2 mm, and the width D2 of the cross-sectional area of the fifth magnetic core 650 may be about 33.3 mm. At this case, the corresponding diagram of the relation between the effective inductance and the current in this example is shown as the curve 670 with the solid line in the
Alternatively, taking the nonlinear inductor 500 as example, the third magnetic core 530, the fourth magnetic core 540 and the fifth magnetic core 550 are directly connected to the first magnetic core 510, and the third air gap g3 exists between the third magnetic core 530 and the second magnetic core 520. At this case, the cross-sectional area of the fourth magnetic core 540 or the cross-sectional area of the fifth magnetic core 550 also can be further adjusted to achieve more variation within the first magnetic resistance and the second magnetic resistance and the different inductance range.
From the analysis of the equivalent magnetic circuit model shown in
For example, referring to the
For example, as shown in
Notably, the above embodiments utilize an external support way between the magnetic cores to achieve the different configurations in the aforementioned description. For example, a support unit may exist between the magnetic cores to achieve the different configuration in accordance with the different embodiments and to save the cost of the air gap with extra mold opening.
The configurations in the above embodiments can be further utilized together in accordance with the specification of the practical application. For example, the cross-sectional areas of the magnetic cores and the widths of the air gaps can be adjusted in same time to achieve different inductance range.
In summary, the nonlinear inductor of the present invention has multiple ways to adjust the inductance without the extra mold opening to achieve the high inductance at the low current operation and the low inductance at the high current operation.
Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102114018 | Apr 2013 | TW | national |