Despite its long history, the theory of magnetics component design still eludes many engineers, and with some justification; a good description of the effect of a magnetic field is the ‘relativistic correction to the force between charged particles when in motion.’ Many understand the behaviour of magnetics components at a basic level – but a deeper challenge arises when the influence of real core materials comes into play with second-order electrical effects, further complicated when the component must be designed for its smallest size, with minimum losses at lowest cost.
Choices may seem obvious: if there is space, a larger part might have more copper and lower DC losses, but material cost would be higher and AC losses could actually be worse. All things being equal, larger ferrite cores have high-frequency losses which scale with core volume. It’s an example of how magnetics design needs to account for multiple interacting characteristics. In these applications, true subject matter expertise is extremely beneficial and enables detailed discussions to clarify parameters such as DC resistance, leakage inductance, self-resonance, winding capacitances, isolation/ safety ratings and much more. The resulting insight makes clear design trade-offs and their likely effects on long-term, mission-critical performance.
TT Electronics plc (LON:TTG) is a provider of engineered electronics applications for performance-critical applications. The Company works with customers in the industrial, medical, aerospace and defence, and transportation sectors.