Improving DC superimposition characteristics of powder cores by applying coupled inductors in multi-phase boost converter

In applications where DC current is superimposed, such as inductors for non-isolated DC-DC converters, powder core can be considered as an attractive solution owing to its superior features such as: high saturation flux density, high Curie temperature, and soft-saturation property. However, in powder cores, a drop of inductance appears prominently due to DC superimposition characteristics. This feature is not a desirable characteristic because it leads to an increase in the inductor ripple current under heavy load, which complicates the thermal design of power semiconductors and capacitors. This paper verifies the improvement of DC superimposition characteristics of powder cores by applying coupled inductors. First, the effect of coupled inductors on the improvement of DC superimposition characteristics is experimentally verified. Second, a measurement method for the DC superimposition characteristics of coupled inductor is proposed. Then, a magnetic circuit model is built using the measurement results. Finally, a coupled analysis of magnetic and electric circuits is performed, and it is confirmed that lower magnetic field operation can be realized by coupled inductors even under heavy load conditions. It has been proven that coupled inductors are effective in improving the DC superposition characteristics of the powder cores.