Abstract
M.Ing.
Low profile power electronics components are currently in great demand. The rapid
advances in semiconductor and micro-electronics technology during the last ten years
have played a major role in the creation of this demand. These advances are in
turn driven by the need for compact design in computing, communication, consumer
electronic goods and control systems with direct consequences in power supply design
and manufacture.
The study covered by this thesis involves the design, manufacture and thermal
analysis of a planar inductor, which is a typical planar power electronics component.
First, a throughout literature survey of planar magnetics revealed that satisfactory
experimental procedures for the thermal analysis of passive power electronic components
under operating conditions representative of modern applications are seldomly
applied. Secondly, a computer based field-solver program and analytical methods are
used to design and analyse a planar inductor. The applicability of different methods
for determination of low power loss in passive components is discussed next. Finally,
an experimental method suitable for low power loss determination is proposed and
investigated. This method can be used in the analysis of inductors or capacitors
of different sizes. It has a wide spectrum of application due to the advantages of
frequency independence and different possible power levels.