Title: Improving power losses and thermal management in switch mode power converters using multiple transformers

Authors: Nagesh Vangala; Srinivasa Rao Gorantla; Rayudu Mannam

Addresses: Vignan's University, Chirra Engineers Pvt. Ltd., 560062, Bangalore, India ' Vignan's University, Vadlamudi Guntur 522213, Bangalore, India ' Vignan's University, Chirra Engineers Pvt. Ltd., 560062, Bangalore, India

Abstract: Presently, DC power supply requirements in electronic applications are met by switch mode power converters. With the advent of high capacity semiconductor devices such as SIC MOSFETs and diodes, the power delivered by converters can be very comfortably enhanced. Nevertheless, the magnetic components such as the power transformers may limit the power delivery because of their thermal resistances and temperature management. Also, the geometry and the size of one single transformer may be a limiting factor for power delivery, though the other devices are rated high. In this paper, a simple technique to parallel multiple small transformers to enhance the power rating of the converter while guaranteeing the power sharing among the transformers is proposed. Two DC-DC forward converters are designed and fabricated, one with single larger transformer and another with two smaller transformers with identical specifications. The test results are presented validating the proposed technique.

Keywords: forward power converters; thermal management; power sharing; efficiency; transformer losses; thermal resistance; ferrite cores; SMPS; multiple transformers; power loss.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAET.2021.117136

International Journal of Computer Aided Engineering and Technology, 2021 Vol.15 No.2/3, pp.257 - 268

Received: 04 Sep 2018
Accepted: 11 Dec 2018
Published online: 19 Aug 2021 *

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