Magnetic analysis, design, and experimental evaluations of integrated winding coupled inductors in interleaved converters

Integrated magnetic components for interleaved converters have been developed in order to fulfill the demand for high power density and high efficiency in power conversion systems. The close-coupled inductor and the loosely coupled inductor methods for interleaved converters are well known as attractive techniques to downsize magnetic components or improve the power conversion efficiency. Moreover, the integrated winding coupled inductor has already been proposed. However, the advantages of the interleaved converter with the integrated winding coupled inductor over the other methods have not been fully elucidated. Consequently, this paper analyzes and evaluates the integrated winding coupled inductor, specifically, the characteristics of the inductor ripple current and the magnetic flux in the core. The analysis shows that the integrated winding coupled inductor provides attractive features compared with the other methods. The effectiveness of the integrated winding coupled inductor is discussed from theoretical and experimental points of view.