Co-fired ceramic inductors with variable inductance, and voltage regulator having same

Publication Date
2009-12-29Filing Date
2006-02-21Inventor
Lim, Michele H.
van Wyk, Jacobus Daniel
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Ceramic inductors are made from stacked sheets of co-fired ceramic. At least one of the ceramic sheets has a slot with a conductor disposed in the slot. The conductor has a thickness equal to a thickness of the ceramic sheet containing the slot. The conductor has a large thickness (compared to prior art co-fired ceramic inductors) and therefore can carry large currents. The present ceramic inductor can be used in power electronics applications due to the ability to carry large currents. The present ceramic inductor preferably has an inductance that decreases with increasing current. A decreasing inductance characteristic tends to increase energy efficiency in a voltage regulator when the inductor is used as an output inductor. Specifically, the variable inductance tends to substantially increase energy efficiency at low current loads without adversely affecting efficiency at high loads.
Assignee
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.
Patent Number
7638988
Application Number
11357424
Primary/U.S. Class
323/222
Other/U.S. Class
323/284
323/285
323/355
CPC Class
H01F17/0033
H01F41/043
H01F38/42
H01F2017/002
H02M3/155
Y10T29/4902
Y10T29/49071
Y10T29/49073
Y10T29/49075
Patent Type
utility
Collections
- Virginia Tech Patents [687]