Unified Three-Phase Magnetics Assembly for Core Loss Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Three-phase LLC power converters face significant core losses due to the large currents handled by inductor/transformer components, which are among the largest and most energy-dissipating parts, necessitating a solution to minimize these losses.
Innovation Solution
A three-phase magnetics assembly with a unified core body and strategically positioned windings and return legs is designed, where core legs of inductors and transformers share central axes to cancel out magnetic fluxes, reducing core losses by integrating all three phases and utilizing a common return leg for inductors and transformers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If inductor/transformer components are designed to withstand large currents, then the power handling capability is improved, but core losses increase and component size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines three separate inductors and three separate transformers into a single unified magnetics assembly with a common core structure. The three phases share common magnetic paths and return legs, merging previously separate magnetic circuits into one integrated structure. This consolidation enables magnetic flux cancellation between phases, reducing core losses while maintaining the required power handling capability for large currents.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the harmful effect of magnetic flux in the core into a beneficial cancellation effect. By strategically positioning the three phases around a common core with shared return legs, the magnetic fluxes from different phases cancel each other out. The flux that would normally cause core losses is transformed into a cancellation mechanism, reducing net flux and associated losses while maintaining power handling capability.
2Power
If inductor/transformer components are designed to withstand large currents, then the power handling capability is improved, but component size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges three separate inductor/transformer assemblies into one unified magnetics component. The three phases share a common core body and return legs, eliminating the need for three separate magnetic circuits. This consolidation significantly reduces the overall volume required to handle the same power level, as the shared magnetic paths serve all three phases simultaneously rather than requiring duplicate structures.
3Ease of manufacture
If separate inductor/transformer components are used for each phase, then the design is simpler to implement, but core losses increase due to lack of flux cancellation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates three phases into a single unified magnetics assembly with a common core and shared return legs. This merging creates magnetic flux cancellation pathways that reduce core losses, while the modular three-phase structure around the common core maintains relative manufacturing simplicity.
4Power
If inductor/transformer components are designed to withstand large currents, then the power handling capability is improved, but the components become among the largest within the power converter
Solution Approach 1:
The patent consolidates three separate inductor/transformer components into one unified magnetics assembly. The shared core and return legs eliminate redundant magnetic structures, significantly reducing the overall volume required to handle large three-phase currents. The unified structure serves all three phases simultaneously rather than requiring three separate large components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the magnetic flux that would normally increase component size into a cancellation effect. By positioning phases to share magnetic paths with common return legs, the fluxes cancel each other, allowing smaller core cross-sections to handle the same power level, thus reducing overall component size while maintaining power handling capability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration significantly reduces core losses by canceling out magnetic fluxes, minimizing energy dissipation and enhancing the efficiency of the power converter, particularly by reducing the magnetic flux within the core body to one-third of individual transformer flux.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of windings... around which the plurality of windings are wound such that magnetic fluxes are produced in the plurality of core legs when current flows through the plurality of windings
Implementation Method 2
an inductor return leg, configured to conduct magnetic flux between the first and second ends of the core legs within the inductors, and a transformer return leg, configured to conduct magnetic flux between the first and second ends of the core legs within the transformers
Data Source
AI summary
A three-phase magnetics assembly comprising a plurality of windings, and a unified core body is provided. The core body includes core legs which extend along central axes of the plurality of windings and around which the plurality of windings are wound such that magnetic fluxes are produced in the plurality of core legs when current flows through the plurality of windings. The plurality of windings comprise first, second, and third phase inductors, and first, second, and third phase transformers, which are positioned about the unified core body such that the core legs of the first phase inductor and second phase transformer share a central axis, the core legs of the second phase inductor and third phase transformer share a central axis, and the core legs of the third phase inductor and first phase transformer share a central axis.