Inductor Design Method of DCM Interleaved PFC Circuit for 6.6-kW On-board Charger

Abstract

Because the on-board charger (OBC) is installed in electric vehicles (EVs), high power density is regarded as a key technology. Among components of the OBC, inductors occupy more than 30% of the total volume. Thus, it is important to reduce the volume and the weight of inductors while maintaining thermal stability. Discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) can satisfy these requirements; however, only a few studies have adopted the DCM operation for OBCs because of the large inductor current ripple. In this paper, a design process is proposed for application of the DCM operation to OBCs. In order to analyze the inductor losses accurately, a numerical formula for the inductor current ripple is deduced based on a detailed analysis. Two inductors are fabricated using several ferrite cores and powder cores taking into consideration the inductor size, inductor losses, and temperature rise. In order to verify the analysis and design process, experimental results are presented that show that the designed inductors satisfy the requirements of the OBCs.