Dartmouth Magnetic Component and Power Electronics Research
Transformers and Inductors for Electronics Applications
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Dartmouth Magnetic Component and Power Electronics Research
Transformers and Inductors for Electronics Applications |
Introduction to ShapeOptOverviewShapeOpt is a free program that optimizes the shape of a high-frequency inductor winding to achieve lower power losses, written by Jiankun Hu, Charles Sullivan, Rob Jensen, Dan Gestwick, and Reid Hutchins. Typical inductor designs fill as much of the bobbin as possible to decrease dc resistance. However, it is undesirable to place wire close to the core gap, because the high fringing B field in this region can lead to excessive eddy current losses. Shapeopt finds the optimal placement of the wire such that total power loss is minimized. Using this method, it is possible to achieve lower power losses than in a distributed or quasi-distributed gap design. First, the program calculates the field due to the gap and the windings using the image method (2-D analysis). Finite-element analysis has shown that this two-dimensional analysis is very accurate. Finding the shape for minimum loss requires an optimization because changing the wire placement will change the field in the whole window. More information about the reasoning and calculations employed by ShapeOpt is detailed in " Optimization of Shapes for Round Wire, High Frequency Gapped Inductor Windings ." Other papers related to ShapeOpt produced by the The Dartmouth Magnetic Component Research group are " Analysis of Minimum Cost in Shape-Optimized Litz-Wire Inductor Windings " and " Optimal Core Dimensional Ratios for Minimizing Winding Loss in High-Frequency Gapped-Inductor Windings ." For more papers by the The Dartmouth Magnetic Component Research group see related papers and publications . To run ShapeOpt online, click "Start Optimization" here or on the panel to the left. ShapeOpt M-FileIn addition to this web-based version, which runs the calculations on our web server, you may download the MATLAB code to run on your own computing system. The downloadable version is for use with MATLAB Version 5 or later (by Mathworks). The two have similar capabilities, but the downloadable version allows the user to view the source code and adapt it to non-standard cases. To download ShapeOpt for use with MATLAB on your own system, click the link below. The shapeopt.m file must be placed on the Matlab path in order to run it from the Matlab command window.
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