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SMC in Passive Power

SMC in Passive Power

Electrical designs are continuously pushed towards high frequencies, lower weight and higher load with less distortions to and from the environment. And we should not forget the demands for materials savings, especially when looking at materials with scarcity like rare earth elements, lithium and copper.

A major part of passive power applications are found in inductors, filters and transformers where Soft Magnetic Composite solutions can give designers new possibilities when working at low to medium frequencies at a high saturation level.

Soft Magnetic Composites (SMC) are materials known as powder based cores, but compared to most of the other powder based materials SMC has a very high saturation level – typically above 1,8 tesla. Furthermore SMC can be produced in complex shapes with very narrow tolerances which enables slimmer and more compact designs.

This can be seen in damping applications in applications below 5 KHz, where the advantages of the high saturation level directly can save on the number of turns of expensive copper wire.

But it can also be used in applications where a stable permeability is needed over a larger flux span. On the curve it is shown that the permeability stays stable/high until around 0,8 tesla. This is relatively high compared to competing materials that typically drops off around 0,2 tesla.

Typical advantages for SMC in passive power applications
  • Compact designs are possible
  • Reduced weight
  • Reduced copper consumption and copper losses
  • High magnetic saturation level
  • High current capability
  • Stable permeability
  • High inductance stability
  • Complex shapes are possible
Next generation pot core
At Sintex we have been working with smart designs of SMC pot cores in order to ensure the highest quality and reproducibility
 
SMC pot cores has the following possibilities:
  • Input filters
  • High power converters
  • High Current low voltage converters
  • Round copper windings – saving copper and space
  • Closed system – no distortions in or out
  • Thermal management – optimized split between copper and iron losses

A normal core design typically distribute the losses between the copper and the core equally, but in some applications it can be advantageous to place the major losses in the core as thermal management of the core is a lot easier than on the enclosed copper wire. Furthermore it is possible to design cooling fins or place heat sinks directly on the outside of a pot core as shown on the photo below.


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    Information

    Datasheets

    • STX H1 SMC

      STX H1 SMC is a soft magnetic material that is characterized by good permeability and it is especially designed for high frequency use (typically above 4kHz).

    • STX H3 SMC

      STX H3 SMC is a soft magnetic material that is characterized by good permeability and it is especially designed for higher frequency use (typically above 2kHz).

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