Thermal analysis for a coupled inductor for 4-channel interleaved automotive bi-directional DC/DC converter based on finite-element modeling

In this paper, thermal analyses for inductors with integrated structure designed for an automotive bi-directional DC/DC converter are performed. An interleaved DC/DC converter system with 4-channels was chosen for the automotive converter topology with 42 V/14 V dual output voltages. The coupled inductors were designed and used for the 4-channel DC/DC converter. A 3-dimensional thermal model based on finite-element modeling (FEM) using I-DEAS is presented, and the thermal behavior of the integrated inductors is simulated and analyzed. The analyzed thermal result can help to design inductors considering severe ambient temperature conditions.