Limits and Opportunities for Distributed Inductors in High-Current, High-Frequency Applications

Comparative study of multicore planar transformers on printed circuit boards

“…The voltage and current ratios still holds for a matrix transformer as a conventional transformer: V p = nV s and I p = I s /n, while the voltage and current of each transformer element are shown in (2) and (3). An example of a matrix transformer on PCB is shown in Fig. 1a…”

“…The use of multiple transformers is presented in [1] wherein the windings are interconnected to operate as a single transformer. Paralleling inductors has also been used to handle large currents [2]. Using multiple magnetic components also addresses thermal management challenges by distributing power dissipation to several smaller elements which will have a combined surface area larger than a single element.…”

“…Using multiple magnetic components also addresses thermal management challenges by distributing power dissipation to several smaller elements which will have a combined surface area larger than a single element. It has been shown in [2, 3] that at the same frequency and flux density, smaller cores have lower temperature rise than larger cores. This was attributed to smaller cores having larger surface area to volume ratio.…”

“…This was attributed to smaller cores having larger surface area to volume ratio. Similarly, current carrying capability per unit area of conductors, especially planar structures, increases with decreasing conductor size [2, 4]. In addition, conductors with larger dimensions are more affected by high‐frequency losses such as eddy current and proximity effects than smaller conductors.…”