Tuesday, September 12, 2006

 

Coupled inductors promise efficient regulation

Multiphase coupled inductors are developed and manufactured under a licence agreement with Volterra to support that company's VT1165M and VT1115M chipsets.
Focus EDL has introduced what is claimed to be the industry's first family of coupled inductors for nonisolated step-down DC/DC voltage regulators. According to Focus EDL, these bring a faster transient response, lower ripple current per phase and increased system efficiency. The PA131xNL is a family of off-the-shelf, surface-mount, RoHS-compliant inductors, with two, three, four or five phases magnetically coupled together in a single part.

Each phase has an equivalent transient inductance of 50nH and a magnetising inductance greater than 250nH.

Each phase is rated for 40A and has a maximum direct current resistance of 0.5mohm.

These parts can accommodate a 5A current imbalance between phases, ensuring they will operate well in less-than-ideal conditions.

Produced by Pulse, these multiphase coupled inductors have been developed and manufactured under a licence agreement with Volterra to support that company's VT1165M and VT1115M chipsets which implement its patented coupled inductor topology.

This innovative inductor solution provides a highly efficient voltage regulation system with low system cost.

In a noncoupled multi-phase DC/DC convertor, each phase has an independent inductor.

To improve transient response, the value of this inductor must be reduced.

However, this reduction causes an increase in current ripple per phase and a decrease in efficiency.

With a coupled inductor topology, all of the inductors are integrated on the same magnetic core and the interaction of the magnetic fields from each phase enables the use of a lower equivalent inductance for faster transient response without increasing the current ripple per phase.

The reduction in ripple current in a coupled inductor topology compared with a noncoupled solution is approximately 50% for a two-phase system, 66% for three-phase, 73% for four-phase and 77% for a five-phase system.

The Pulse PA131xNL family package dimensions and footprint match Volterra's requirements to enable second sourcing for the inductors while maintaining a low profile and small footprint.

The sizes of the inductors are: PA1312NL - 18.3 x 9.0 x 5.2mm, PA1313NL - 27.3 x 9.0 x 5.2mm, PA1314NL - 36.6 x 9.0 x 5.2mm, PA1315NL - 42.7 x 9.0 x 5.2mm.

These products are in production with samples available for approved Volterra customers using the Volterra chipset.

The inductors are available packaged in tape and reel and in trays.





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