PCB-Based Inductor Design for 1-kW, 1-MHz Buck Converter

The size of power converters can be significantly reduced by increasing the switching frequency. However, the design and implementation of high-frequency converters can be challenging due to high power losses and thermal issues. This work presents a design of a planar Printed Circuit Board (PCB)-based inductor for application in a 1-MHz, 1-kW buck converter. The inductor design was developed by considering power losses and thermal limitations through the use of analytical models and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tools. The estimated efficiency of the converter was 96.12%, while the experimentally measured efficiency was 95.7%. This shows 0.42% difference between the design and the implementation, indicating a good correlation between the design and experimental results.