Pulse has introduced the industry's first family of coupled inductors for non-isolated step-down DC-DC voltage regulators. These bring a faster transient response, lower ripple current per phase and increased system efficiency, according to the company.
Pulse's multiphase coupled inductors are developed and manufactured under a licence agreement with Volterra to support Volterra'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.
Pulse's 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 (Lk) of 50 nH and a magnetising inductance (Lm) greater than 250 nH. Each phase is rated for 40 A and has a direct current resistance (DCR) of 0,5 mΩ maximum. According to the manufacturer, these parts can accommodate a 5 A current imbalance between phases, ensuring they will operate well in less-than-ideal conditions.
"The Pulse PA131xNL family, when used with Volterra's chipsets, provides lower current ripple per phase, improved transient response, and higher efficiency," said Michael Arkin, Pulse Power Division product line manager. "Their lower transient inductance compared with traditional solutions reduces cost because fewer bulk capacitors are required to support high-transient-load applications such as high-performance central processing units and graphical processing units used in PCs, workstations, DC/DC power for gaming consoles, etc."
In a non-coupled multiphase DC/DC converter, 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 to a non-coupled solution is approximately 50% for a 2-phase system, 66% for 3-phase, 73% for 4-phase, and 77% for a 5-phase system.
The inductors measure 9 mm by 5,2 mm with lengths: 18,3 mm (PA1312NL); 27,3 mm (PA1313NL); 36,6 mm (PA1314NL); 42,7 mm (PA1315NL).
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