Estimation of Electromagnetic Losses Associated with the Buck Ferrite Core Inductor

Abstract

Direct current (DC-DC) converters, for example, buck, boost, buck-boost, etc., present different types of energy losses, which are converted into heat. In the literature, there are several analyses of losses associated with semiconductor and energy storage elements. However, recently the analysis of the losses associated with the electromagnetic elements that make up these topologies has been considered. In this context, this article presents a computational evaluation, based on Steinmetz's equations and finite element analysis using the MatEditor software, to estimate the electromagnetic losses in ferrite cores in the inductor of the buck converter. This evaluation is performed to the cores manufactured in Brazil because their datasheets do not allow to obtain an estimate of core loss as function of the magnetic flux continuous variation. Thus, from the proposed approach, it is possible to create graphs to visually assess the electromagnetic losses of the ferrite core and choose the core with the smallest loss in order to use it to construct the buck converter inductor.