Optimizing AC Resistance of Solid PCB Winding

• Main Authors: Minh Huy Nguyen, Handy Fortin Blanchette
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-05-01
• Series: Electronics
• Subjects: finite element simulation; optimize AC resistance; solid PCB winding
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/9/5/875

At high frequency, power losses of a winding due to eddy currents becomes significant. Moreover, the skin and proximity AC resistances are influenced by the width of printed circuit board (PCB) conductors and distance between the adjacent tracks which causes many difficulties to design windings with lowest AC resistances. To clarify this phenomenon, this paper focuses on modeling the influence of skin and proximity effects on AC resistance of planar PCB winding, thereby providing guidelines to reduce the winding AC resistance. An approximate electromagnetic calculation method is proposed and it shows that when the winding proximity AC to DC ratio <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <mo>(</mo> <msub> <mi>F</mi> <mrow> <mi>p</mi> <mi>r</mi> <mi>o</mi> <mi>x</mi> <mi>i</mi> <mi>m</mi> <mi>i</mi> <mi>t</mi> <mi>y</mi> </mrow> </msub> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula> is equal to <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mfrac> <mn>1</mn> <mn>3</mn> </mfrac> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula> the AC on DC ratio caused by skin effect <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <mo>(</mo> <msub> <mi>F</mi> <mrow> <mi>s</mi> <mi>k</mi> <mi>i</mi> <mi>n</mi> </mrow> </msub> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula>, the winding is optimized and it has lowest AC resistance. 3-D finite element simulations of 3, 7 and 10-Turn windings, which are divided into 3 groups with the same footprint, are presented to investigate the lowest AC resistance when the track width varies from 3 mm to 5 mm and the frequency range is up to 700 kHz. In order to verify the theoretical analysis and simulation results, an experiment with 3 simulated groups, (9 prototypes in total) is built and has a very good fit with simulation results. Experimental results show that at the optimal width, the AC resistance of the windings can be reduced up to <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <mn>16.5</mn> <mo>%</mo> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula> in the frequency range from 200 kHz to 700 kHz.