Hybrid high current, surface mount swing inductor and fabrication methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12057250-B2
Application number	US-202117191956-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2021
Priority date	Mar 4, 2021
Publication date	Aug 6, 2024
Grant date	Aug 6, 2024

Abstract

An inductor includes discrete magnetic core pieces fabricated from different magnetic materials having different magnetic properties. An inverted U-section conductive coil includes a top section and first and second legs to establish a surface mount connection to a circuit board, and the discrete magnetic core pieces are assembled around the inverted U-section conductive coil. The first and second discrete magnetic core pieces are operable to reach magnetic saturation at respectively different current loads applied to the coil when the circuit board is energized, imparting multiple steps of inductance rolloff response to a range of current loads.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component comprising:
a first discrete magnetic core piece fabricated from a first magnetic material having first magnetic properties;
a second discrete magnetic core piece fabricated from a second magnetic material having second magnetic properties different from the first magnetic properties; and
an inverted U-section conductive coil comprising a top section and first and second legs extending perpendicularly from the top section to establish a surface mount connection to a circuit board;
wherein the first discrete magnetic core piece is assembled around a top portion of the first and second legs of the U-section conductive coil and the second discrete magnetic core piece is assembled around a bottom portion of the first and second legs of the inverted U-section conductive coil, wherein the first discrete magnetic core piece comprises two parallel slots extending inside the first discrete magnetic core piece and the second magnetic core piece comprises two parallel slots extending inside the second discrete magnetic core piece; and
wherein the first and second discrete magnetic core pieces are operable to reach magnetic saturation at respectively different current loads applied to the inverted U-section conductive coil when the circuit board is energized, the magnetic saturation of each of the first and second discrete magnetic core pieces imparting multiple steps of inductance rolloff response to a range of current loads for the inductor component.

2. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 1 , wherein the first and second discrete magnetic core pieces are arranged in a vertical stack.

3. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 2 , wherein the two parallel slots of the first magnetic core piece and the two parallel slots of the second magnetic core piece are aligned with one another in the vertical stack, and the first and second legs fully occupying the two parallel slots of the first magnetic core piece and the two parallel slots of the second magnetic core piece.

4. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 3 , wherein the first and second discrete magnetic core pieces have an equal length dimension and an equal width dimension.

5. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 3 , wherein the first and second discrete magnetic core pieces have an unequal height dimension.

6. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 2 , wherein the first discrete magnetic core piece has a first height dimension and wherein the second discrete magnetic core piece has a second height dimension, and wherein the top section is exposed on the top of the second discrete magnetic core piece at a distance from the circuit board about equal to the first height dimension plus the second height dimension.

7. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the first and second discrete magnetic core pieces is formed with at least one physical gap.

8. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 2 , wherein the first and second discrete magnetic core pieces each define a pair of exterior vertically extending coil slots that are aligned with one another in the vertical stack, and the first and second legs only partly occupying the pair of exposed vertically extending coil slots in the first and second discrete core pieces.

9. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 8 , further comprising third and fourth discrete core pieces that are arranged in a vertical stack, wherein the third and fourth discrete core pieces each define a pair of exposed vertically extending coil slots that are aligned with one another in the vertical stack, and the first and second legs further only partly occupying the pairs of exposed vertically extending aligned coil slots in the third and fourth discrete core pieces.

10. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 8 , wherein the first and second core pieces have an unequal height dimension in the vertical stack.

11. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 8 , wherein the first discrete magnetic core piece has a first height dimension and wherein the second discrete magnetic core piece has a second height dimension, and wherein the top section extends partly on the top of the second discrete magnetic core piece at a distance from the circuit board about equal to the first height dimension plus the second height dimension.

12. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 8 , further comprising a third discrete magnetic core piece opposing the first and second discrete magnetic core pieces, the third discrete magnetic piece having a height dimension equal to a height dimension of the first magnetic core piece plus a height dimension of the second magnetic core piece.

13. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 1 , wherein the first discrete magnetic core piece is formed with exterior vertically extending coil slots and wherein the second discrete magnetic core piece is formed with interior vertically extending coil slots.

14. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 13 , further comprising a third discrete magnetic core piece opposing the first discrete magnetic core piece, and the second discrete magnetic core piece overlying the first and third discrete magnetic core pieces.

15. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 2 , further comprising a third discrete magnetic core piece vertically stacked on the first magnetic core piece and arranged side-by-side with the second discrete magnetic core piece.

16. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 1 , wherein the first and second discrete magnetic pieces are arranged side-by-side on opposing sides of the coil.

17. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 16 , wherein the first and second discrete magnetic pieces each include vertical coil slots respectively receiving only a portion of the legs of the coil.

18. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 17 , wherein at least one of the first and second discrete magnetic core pieces is further formed with a physical gap.

19. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 16 , wherein the first discrete magnetic core piece and the second discrete magnetic core piece each include a horizontal coil slot that are respectively aligned with one another to receive the top section of the coil.

20. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 19 , wherein the first discrete magnetic core piece is longer than the second discrete magnetic core piece.

21. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 19 , wherein at least one of the first and second discrete magnetic core pieces is formed with a physical gap.

22. The hybrid swing-type surface mount inductor component of claim 16 , wherein the first discrete magnetic core piece and the second discrete magnetic core piece each include a pair of horizontal coil slots that are aligned with one another; and
wherein the inverted U-section conductive coil comprises a pair of top sections each having first and second legs extending perpendicularly from the top sections to establish a surface mount connection to a circuit board, and wherein the second legs ar

Assignees

• Eaton Intelligent Power Ltd

Inventors

• Yan Yipeng
• Zhou Dengyan

Classifications

• H01F27/292

  Surface mounted devices · CPC title

• H01F27/2847

  Sheets; Strips (H01F27/2866 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01F2027/065

  Mounting on printed circuit boards · CPC title

• H01F3/14

  Constrictions; Gaps, e.g. air-gaps (in magnetic shunt paths H01F3/12) · CPC title

• H01F2003/106

  Magnetic circuits using combinations of different magnetic materials · CPC title