With demand for lower supply voltage and increased speed in today’s electronics, high-performance DC-DC converters are in demand — and power inductors greatly affect the converter’s performance. Learn more about the effective methods for using power inductors, how to select them, and what to consider when in use with DC-DC converters.
Power inductors are important components that largely affect DC-DC converter performance. When turned on, power inductors collect currents as energy, and when turned off, they discharge the collected energy. This method is effectively applied in power supply circuits for equipment, including DC-DC converters.
However, there are parameters related to power inductor characteristics that have a complex trade-off relationship with each other. The difficulty in designing a power inductor stems from the variability of its characteristics according to factors such as temperature and current magnitude. This mutual trade-off relationship makes it critical to select the best power inductor for an application from an overall perspective, with consideration for the efficiencies, sizes, and costs of DC-DC converters.
TDK has a widely varied lineup of power inductor products. This article describes and explains effective methods for using power inductors, and key points for selecting them, according to the required characteristics of DC-DC converters.