High Frequency Magnetics; Black Magic, Art or Science?

Magnetics Core Loss

Dr. Ray Ridley

APEC Industry Session on Magnetics

Wednesday March 23 2016

www.ridleyengineering.com
1
 Introduction

Core loss calculations and measurements

New core material needs

Need for extensive data

Approximations to data

Different excitation waveforms

Temperature variations

Standardized data base proposals

© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 2

 Immediate Goals for Core Materials

0.6 T
MPP
SATURATION

LOSS FERRITE
0.3 T Improvements

SATURATION LIMITED CORE

LOSS LIMITED

10K 100K 1 M 10 M 100 M

Frequency (Hz)

Would be nice to at least extend saturation range further

© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 3

 B-H Loop and Core Losses
B

𝛥𝐵

Core loss calculations and measurements

© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 4
 Core Loss MPP 200u

5000 mW/cm3

300 kHz 0.1 T 5 W/cm3

© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 5
 Core Loss PC95

350 mW/cm3

300 kHz 0.1 T 0.350 W/cm3 > 10 times better than MPP
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 Core Loss Steinmetz Equation

Pc  kf B x y

Steinmetz equation can

be used to approximate
the actual loss measurements

Three coefficients define the

loss for a given material

© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 7

 Steinmetz Equation Limitations

Pc  kf x B y

Equation assumes curves are

1) Equally spaced with frequency

2) Equal slopes at different frequencies

© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 8

 Modifying the Steinmetz Equation
Pc  kf x B y
Discrete step changes in coefficients from Mag Inc.

a c d
<100 kHz 0.074 1.43 2.85
100-500 kHz 0.036 1.64 2.62
>500 kHz 0.014 1.84 2.28

© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 9

 Steinmetz Equation Changing Coefficients

Pc  kf x B y
k x y
<100 kHz 0.074 1.43 2.85
100-500 kHz 0.036 1.64 2.62
>500 kHz 0.014 1.84 2.28

© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 10

 Ridley-Nace Variable Steinmetz Equation

Continuously-variable coefficients with Ridley-Nace formula

( df  e )
Pc  (a ln f  b) f B
c

Five coefficients needed to describe materials

Example for Magnetics R material:

( 0.00076 f  2.8332)
Pc  (3.626 ln f  28.32) f 1.729
B

© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 11

 Continuously Variable k Term
Magnetics R Material Measured Core Loss 20
10000

Loss
mW / cm3

1000
16
k  3.626 ln f  28.32

12

100
8
Measurements

10 4

0
1 0 200 400 600 800 1000

Frequency

( df  e )
0.1
Pc  (a ln f  b) f B c

0.01 a  3.626 b  28.32

0.005 0.01 0.1 0.2 12
Flux Density T
 Continuously Variable y Term
Magnetics R Material Measured Core Loss
10000
3
Loss
mW / cm3

1000

2
y  0.00076 f  2.8332
100

10

0
1 0 200 400 600 800 1000

Frequency

0.1
( df  e )
Pc  (a ln f  b) f B c

d  0.00076 e  2.8332
0.01
0.005 0.01 0.1 0.2
Flux DensityT
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 Oliver Variable Steinmetz Equation
(Powdered Iron Core Material)

f
Pcore   df 2 B 2
a b c
3
 2.3  1.65
B B B

Continuously-variable coefficients with Oliver formula

Four coefficients needed to describe materials, plus 2.3 and

1.65 exponents subject to change with different materials

www.micrometals.com/appnotes/appnotedownloads/coreloss update.pdf

© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 14

 Core Loss Temperature Variation
Loss Multiplier
5
g (T )  a 5T 5  a 4T 4  a 3T 3  a 2T 2  a1T  a 0

Manufacturer’s Data
3

1
-60 0 60 120
Temperature
Six coefficients needed to describe temperature variation
Every material has a different curve
Does the curve also change with frequency and flux level?
© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 15
 Different Core Excitations
B B

t t
B B

t t
Need to modify equations to suit each of these waveforms
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 General Triangular Flux Waveform

2B

Ts
D1Ts D2Ts
t

Pc ( D)  D1 Pc f  D2 Pc f Pc  (a ln f  b) f c B ( df  e )
2 D1 2 D2

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 Duty Cycle Core Loss Multiplier

B = 0.15 T
6

4 DCM : D '  D
3

1
CCM : D '  1  D
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Pc ( D)  D1 Pc f  D2 Pc f
2 D1 2 D2
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 Putting it All Together

© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 19

 What We Need from the Manufacturers

1) Raw core loss sinewave test data over wide range of

frequency, B, temperature

2) Who is going to fund the modeling into a standard

format database?

20
 Magnetics Forecast
High-ripple current inductor designs will dominate the practical high-performance market

Practical “high performance” means converters up to 5 MHz

Core material improvements will be just incremental (unless some breakthrough material emerges)

Insufficient funding is going into fundamental magnetic material research to give a

good chance of any breakthroughs.

Data Standardization is badly needed from the core manufacturers to ease confusion

Core loss raw data is needed, not just curves.

Creative core geometries need to be applied to POL inductors and other high-ripple parts

Magnetic core will not go away (however much it is wished for)

Isolation transformers will creep back into PoL applications to boost efficiency – More magnetics!

Multi-converter processing will continue to proliferate.

© 2016 Ridley Engineering Inc 21

 Some References
Cliff Jamerson: Targeting Switcher Magnetics Core Loss Calculations,
Power Electronics Technology, Jan 2001.

Ed Herbert: http://www.psma.com/technical-forums/magnetics/core-loss-studies

Christopher Oliver: www.micrometals.com/appnotes/appnotedownloads/coreloss update.pdf

Power Supply Design Center Articles http://www.ridleyengineering.com/design-center.html

[89] Core Loss Modeling

[90] Core Loss Modeling with Non-Sinusoidal Waveforms - Part II
[91] Core Loss Modelling - Sinewave Versus Triangle Wave - Part III

Ray Ridley and Art Nace

[A03] Modeling Ferrite Core Losses

Christopher Oliver
[A06] Core Loss Modeling & Measurement

Power Supply Design Software http://www.ridleyengineering.com/software.html

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