Nanocrystalline magnetic materials versus ferrites in power electronics

AbstractIn this paper magnetic properties and global operating parameters of nanocrystalline and ferrite materials are compared. It is figured out that because of their marvelous magnetic properties the nanocrystalline materials are the future magnetic materials in power electronics. The losses of three toroidal nanocrystalline cores (Vitroperm 500F) are investigated under typical for power electronics square voltages. The loss comparison shows 2-3 times lower losses of nanocrystalline compared to ferrites under both sine and square voltages. A practical welding transformer is designed using nanocrystalline and ferrite materials. The carried out design based on a nanocrystalline core shows improvement in size of above 60% and in weight above 55%. The advantage of the nanocrystalline core transformer is obtained because of the higher induction level of the material, up to 1.2 T in general