The role of materials in the optimal design of magnetic components for DC–DC converters

This paper analyses the design of the output inductor of a DC–DC converter, comparing the performances achieved by three different core materials to reach the best trade-off between the total losses and the size of the magnetic component. The N87 ferrite, the Xflux60 silicon iron powder, and the Metglas 2605 SA-1 iron-based amorphous are considered in the present analysis. An equivalent non-linear reluctance model is adopted to compute the differential inductance profile of each design configuration. The total losses are estimated with analytical computations. Several considerations are presented in comparing the different core materials, and the optimum design criteria in different configurations are investigated.