CN-122000177-A - Power converter and inductor assembly thereof

Abstract

A power converter is disclosed that includes an inductor assembly and two power dies. The inductor assembly includes two windings that share a magnetic core to form a coupled inductor. Each winding includes a body extending toward a top surface of the inductor assembly, a first portion extending to a bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a first end of the winding, and a second portion extending to a bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a second end of the winding. Each power die includes a pair of switches forming a switching node electrically connected to a first end of a corresponding winding, a second end of the corresponding winding providing an output voltage. The two windings have a partial overlap region therebetween for determining a coupling coefficient between the coupled inductors. The inductor assembly of the present disclosure determines the coupling coefficient between windings based on the partial overlap region between windings, thereby reducing the spacing of the windings, resulting in the power converter of the present disclosure having the advantage of compactness and high efficiency.

Inventors

• GE TING

Assignees

• 成都芯源系统有限公司

Dates

Publication Date

20260508

Application Date

20251016

Priority Date

20241105

Claims (20)

1. 1. A power converter, comprising: an inductor assembly including two windings sharing a magnetic core to form a coupled inductor, each winding including a body, a first portion, and a second portion, wherein the body of each winding extends toward a top surface of the inductor assembly, the first portion of each winding extends to a bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a first end of the winding, the second portion of each winding extends to a bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a second end of the winding, and Two power dies, wherein each power die includes a pair of switches forming a switch node electrically connected to a first end of a corresponding winding, a second end of the corresponding winding configured to provide an output voltage, wherein The two windings are provided with a partial overlap region, and the partial overlap region is used for determining the coupling coefficient between the coupling inductors.
2. 2. The power converter of claim 1, wherein: the first ends of the two windings are respectively positioned at two opposite edges of the bottom surface of the inductor assembly, the second ends of the two windings are positioned in the middle area of the bottom surface of the inductor assembly, and the two power wafers are arranged at two opposite sides of the inductor assembly.
3. 3. The power converter of claim 2, further comprising: an interconnect electrically connects the second ends of the two windings together to provide the output voltage.
4. 4. The power converter of claim 1, wherein: The bodies of the two windings are arranged perpendicular to the top and bottom surfaces of the inductor assembly and partially overlap each other such that a counter-coupling is formed between the two windings.
5. 5. The power converter of claim 1, wherein: A first portion of the first winding and a second portion of the second winding extend toward a first side of the magnetic core, the second portion of the first winding and the first portion of the second winding extend toward a second side of the magnetic core, the first side opposite the second side.
6. 6. The power converter of claim 1, wherein: The gap between the bodies of the two windings is less than 0.4mm.
7. 7. A power converter, comprising: An inductor assembly including four windings sharing a magnetic core to form a coupled inductor, each winding including a body, a first portion, and a second portion, wherein the body of each winding extends toward a top surface of the inductor assembly, the first portion of each winding extends to a bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a first end of the winding, the second portion of each winding extends to a bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a second end of the winding, and Two power dies are placed on opposite sides of the inductor assembly, wherein each power die includes two pairs of switches, each pair of switches forming a switching node electrically connected to a first end of a corresponding winding, a second end of the corresponding winding being configured to provide an output voltage.
8. 8. The power converter of claim 7, wherein: A first partial overlap region between the first winding and the second winding for determining a coupling coefficient between the first winding and the second winding, and A second partial overlap region between the third winding and the fourth winding is used to determine a coupling coefficient between the third winding and the fourth winding.
9. 9. The power converter of claim 8, wherein: A first end of the first winding is electrically connected to a switching node formed by a first pair of switches in a first power die; The first end of the second winding is electrically connected to a switching node formed by a first pair of switches in a second power die; the first end of the third winding is electrically connected to a switching node formed by a second pair of switches in the first power chip, and The first end of the fourth winding is electrically connected to a switching node formed by a second pair of switches in the second power die.
10. 10. The power converter of claim 7, wherein: the first ends of the four windings are located at edges of the bottom surface of the inductor assembly and the second ends of the four windings are located in a middle region of the bottom surface of the inductor assembly.
11. 11. The power converter of claim 10, further comprising: an interconnect electrically connects second ends of the four windings together to provide the output voltage.
12. 12. The power converter of claim 7, wherein: the bodies of the first and second windings are perpendicular to the top and bottom surfaces of the inductor assembly and partially overlap each other, thereby forming a counter-coupling between the first and second windings. The bodies of the third and fourth windings are perpendicular to the top and bottom surfaces of the inductor assembly and partially overlap each other, thereby forming a counter-coupling between the third and fourth windings.
13. 13. The power converter of claim 7, wherein: The first and second windings being disposed adjacent to one another to form a first set of anti-coupled windings, the first and second windings having a first gap therebetween, and The third and fourth windings are positioned adjacent to each other to form a second set of anti-coupled windings with a second gap between the bodies of the third and fourth windings.
14. 14. The power converter of claim 13, wherein: The first gap and the second gap are smaller than a gap between the first set of anti-coupling windings and the second set of anti-coupling windings.
15. 15. The power converter of claim 13, wherein: the first gap and the second gap are both less than 0.4mm.
16. 16. An inductor assembly for a power converter, comprising: A magnetic core, and A first winding and a second winding sharing the magnetic core, wherein Each of the first and second windings includes a body, a first portion, and a second portion, wherein the body of each winding extends toward the top surface of the inductor assembly, the first portion of each winding extends to the bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a first end of the winding, the second portion of each winding extends to the bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a second end of the winding, and The first winding and the second winding have a first partial overlap region therebetween, and the first partial overlap region is used for determining a coupling coefficient between the first winding and the second winding.
17. 17. The inductor assembly of claim 16 wherein: a first end of the first winding is electrically connected to a first switching node formed by a first pair of switches; a second end of the first winding is electrically connected to a first output pad; The first end of the second winding is electrically connected to a second switch node formed by a second pair of switches, and A second end of the second winding is electrically connected to a second output pad.
18. 18. The inductor assembly of claim 17 wherein: The first ends of the first winding and the second winding are located at edges of the bottom surface of the inductor assembly, and the second ends of the first winding and the second winding are located in a middle region of the bottom surface of the inductor assembly.
19. 19. The inductor assembly of claim 16, further comprising: A third winding and a fourth winding sharing the magnetic core, wherein Each of the third and fourth windings includes a body, a first portion, and a second portion, wherein the body of each winding extends toward the top surface of the inductor assembly, the first portion of each winding extends at the bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a first end of the winding, the second portion of each winding extends at the bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a second end of the winding, and And a second partial overlapping area is arranged between the third winding and the fourth winding, and the second partial overlapping area is used for determining the coupling coefficient between the third winding and the fourth winding.
20. 20. The inductor assembly of claim 19 wherein: The first and second windings are positioned adjacent to each other to form a first set of anti-coupled windings with a first gap between the bodies of the first and second windings; The third winding and the fourth winding being disposed adjacent to each other to form a second set of counter-coupled windings with a second gap between the bodies of the third winding and the fourth winding, and The first gap and the second gap are smaller than a third gap between the first set of anti-coupling windings and a second set of anti-coupling windings.

Description

Power converter and inductor assembly thereof Technical Field The present invention relates to electronic circuits, and more particularly to power converters. Background Inductors are widely used in a variety of circuits such as filters and power converters. In a power converter, a single output inductor may be used to couple a switching node to an output node of the power converter. The coupled inductors may then be used to couple the outputs of the multiphase power converter together. As is known in the art, a power converter converts input power to output power to provide a desired voltage and current to a load. A multiphase power converter is made up of a plurality of power stages that are connected in parallel and that operate in phase-error. Multiphase power converters have several advantages including reduced output ripple voltage, improved transient performance, and reduced input capacitance requirements for ripple current ratings. Currently, coupled inductors have been widely used in power converters. Symmetrical windings are often used in designs with the current directions of adjacent windings being reversed to achieve counter-coupling between the windings. Disclosure of Invention Accordingly, to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention proposes an inductor assembly integrated with a coupled inductor, and a compact, efficient power converter including the inductor assembly. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a power converter is presented that includes an inductor assembly and two power dies. The inductor assembly includes two windings sharing a magnetic core to form a coupled inductor. Each winding includes a body, a first portion, and a second portion. The body of each winding extends toward the top surface of the inductor assembly, the first portion of each winding extends to the bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a first end of the winding, and the second portion of each winding extends to the bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a second end of the winding. Each power die includes a pair of switches forming a switching node electrically connected to a first end of a corresponding winding, a second end of the corresponding winding configured to provide an output voltage. The two windings are provided with a partial overlap region, and the partial overlap region is used for determining the coupling coefficient between the coupling inductors. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a power converter is presented that includes an inductor assembly and two power dies. The inductor assembly includes four windings that share a magnetic core to form a coupled inductor. Each winding includes a body, a first portion, and a second portion. Wherein the body of each winding extends towards the top surface of the inductor assembly, the first portion of each winding extends to the bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a first end of the winding, and the second portion of each winding extends to the bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a second end of the winding. Two power dies are placed on opposite sides of the inductor assembly, wherein each power die includes two pairs of switches, the switching nodes formed by each pair of switches being electrically connected to the first ends of the corresponding windings. The second end of the corresponding winding is configured to provide an output voltage. According to an embodiment of the present invention, an inductor assembly for a power converter is presented that includes a magnetic core, a first winding and a second winding that share the magnetic core. Each of the first winding and the second winding includes a body, a first portion, and a second portion. Wherein the body of each winding extends toward the top surface of the inductor assembly, the first portion of each winding extends to the bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a first end of the winding, and the second portion of each winding extends to the bottom surface of the inductor assembly to form a second end of the winding. The first winding and the second winding have a first partial overlap region therebetween, and the first partial overlap region is used for determining a coupling coefficient between the first winding and the second winding. Compared with the prior art, the inductor component determines the coupling coefficient between the windings through the partial overlapping area between the windings, so that the space between the windings is reduced, and a more compact and efficient power converter design can be realized. Drawings For a better understanding of the present invention, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings. Wherein like or similar elements have like reference numerals. Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a power converter 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of the i