IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2020 - 18

Passive Components

by Ashok Bindra

Metal Composite Power Inductors
for Automotive Applications

B

ecause the IEEE Applied
Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC)
2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana, was
canceled due to the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic, the APEC
exhibitors have taken to the Internet to deliver their messages. Global
electronic c o m p o n e n t s supplier
KEMET Corporation was one of
them. Using online tools, KEMET's
Michael Freitag, director of magnetic, sensor, and actuator product
management, described the company's latest magnetic product to IEEE
Power Electronics Magazine. The
supplier demonstrated online a new
family of metal composite power
inductors to address the stringent
demands of the automotive electronic control units (ECU) applications, as well as electromagnetic
interference (EMI) filters. Other target applications for these new metal
composite core inductors include
light-emitting diode h e a d l i g h t s ,
meter cluster panels, head-up displays, electric water and oil pumps,
and electric power steering.
Designed to outperform traditional ferrite inductors and thereby boost
the performance of the company's
METCOM family, as well as the AECQ200 qualified product portfolio, the
new metal composite core series
MPXV offers high-saturation characDigital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2020.2987456
Date of current version: 16 June 2020

18

IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE

ments of these applications, the MPXV
series inductors' metal composite core
offers high-permeability and high-saturation flux density for a stronger magnetic field. Another advantage is lower
loss for a more efficient device that
minimizes heat to make it suitable for
use in designs where thermal considerCopper
Metal
ations are vital.
Coil
Terminal
Furthermore, to avoid magnetic
flux leakage, the inductors feature
FIG 1 The metal composite core offers
EMI shielding (Figure 1), a needed feaEMI shielding. (Source: KEMET; used
ture for these demanding applications.
with permission.)
In addition, they are AEC-Q200 compliant as well as approved to Europeteristics for high-reliability automoan Union (EU) Restriction of Hazardtive applications requiring stable
ous Substances: 2011/65/EU and
inductance across a wide range of
(EU)2015/863.
temperatures and curThe p o w e r in rents. Operating over
ductors
come in a
a temperature range
The supplier demonvariety of surfaceof −55 °C to +155 °C,
strated online a new
mount device case
the rated inductance
family of metal comsizes, ranging from
range for the new seposite power inductors
5 × 5 × 2 to 22 × 22
ries is 0.10-100 μH at
to address the strin× 13 mm. Because
100 kHz (±20% tolerthe metal composance) with a rated dc
gent demands of the
ite inductors offer
resistance of 0.48-
automotive electronic
high-temperature
341.2 mΩ maximum.
control units applicac apabi l it y (up to
Also, the rated curtions, as well as elec155 °C) and low acrent for the MPXV
tromagnetic interferoustic noise, they
series is 2-90 A.
ence filters.
are suitable for all
Because the new
areas of the vehicle,
power inductors can
including the chalprov ide ef f ic ient
lenging operating e nv i r on ment s
power conversion while minimizing
found under the hood. In a statetransmission losses, they are recomment, KEMET's Senior Vice Presimended for use in dc-dc switching
dent and Chief Technology Officer
power supplies found in automotive
Philip Lessner said, "Our experience
ECUs. To meet the stringent require-

z	June 2020

Metal
Composite
IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2020
