How a Magnetic Inductor is made?

A. Magnetic Core Choices Inductors are made, by winding copper wire around magnetic cores. The cores usually contain an air gap purposefully cut into them to improve energy storage. Since the role of an inductor is to store energy, we will usually have one or more air gaps in the magnetic flux path of the core employed for an inductor.

How do power inductors work?

Power inductors require the presence of an air gap within the core structure. The purpose of the gap is to store the energy, and to prevent the core from saturating under load. Another way to express the function of the air gap is to say that it reduces and controls the effective permeability of the magnetic structure.

What makes a good power inductor?

A carefully considered power inductor is often a key design element to achieve a small, efficient, and cost-effective converter. For many inductor applications, powder cores are clearly superior compared with alternative core materials, such as ferrites or steel laminations.

Why do inductor cores have air gaps?

The cores usually contain an air gap purposefully cut into them to improve energy storage. Since the role of an inductor is to store energy, we will usually have one or more air gaps in the magnetic flux path of the core employed for an inductor. These air gaps will be precision machined as specified by the user. Air gaps help avoid exceeding B

Why do inductor windings have three small air gaps?

In general, three smaller air gaps are preferred to one big air gap because the flux leakage paths from one big gap extend further into wire winding window. This leakage flux will increase the proximity effect for wire losses in inductor wire windings in a local region causing non-uniform heating.

Why do inductor cores need to be capped?

The latter also allows for more inductor current to flow before B Satis reached as well as smaller cores to store a specific amount of energy. This “gapping of the core” does reduce the effective permeability of the core as the price for the more linear B-H characteristic.