Effect of geometry variation of LTCC distributed air-gap filter inductor on light load efficiency of DC-DC converters

Author

Lim, Michele H. ; van Wyk, J.D. ; Liang, Zhenxian

Author_Institution

Bradley Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Virginia Polytech. Inst. & State Univ., Blacksburg, VA

Volume

4

fYear

2006

fDate

8-12 Oct. 2006

Firstpage

1884

Lastpage

1890

Abstract

A low profile power inductor fabricated using low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) technology has been demonstrated to improve the light load efficiency of a converter, without the use of additional control circuitry. This is brought about by means of a distributed air gap design, which causes a change in inductance with load current. Variation in inductor geometry is performed experimentally to study the effects on the light load efficiency of a converter. By decreasing the conductor width of the inductor, the light load efficiency can be further improved by 30% compared with using commercial inductors of similar inductance. Variation in the number of parallel conductors in a multi-conductor structure does not have significant effect on light load efficiency improvement

Keywords

DC-DC power convertors; air gaps; ceramic packaging; power inductors; power integrated circuits; DC-DC converters; LTCC technology; distributed air-gap filter inductor; inductor geometry variation; light load efficiency; low temperature co-fired ceramics technology; power inductor; Air gaps; Ceramics; Conductors; DC-DC power converters; Filters; Geometry; Inductance; Inductors; Lighting control; Temperature control; LTCC; conductor width; distributed air-gap; parallel conductors; planar integration; variable inductance;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Industry Applications Conference, 2006. 41st IAS Annual Meeting. Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE

Conference_Location

Tampa, FL

ISSN

0197-2618

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0364-2

Electronic_ISBN

0197-2618

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IAS.2006.256793

Filename

4025481