<p>A basic procedure for designing a
power inductor is presented. Many papers and textbook
chapters offer more sophisticated methods, but it is harder to
find a clear outline of a basic design process.
Studying and practicing a basic design process is useful for
beginners to understand the fundamental tradeoffs in design and to build
intuition. For more advanced work, the
basic design process is useful as it avoids relying on assumptions that might not
be valid with, for example, high-frequency loss effects that are ignored in the
development of some more sophisticated methods, or that constrain other methods
to narrow, specific cases.</p>
<p>Two options are outlined: starting with a saturation
constraint, and then checking the core/winding loss balance; or, starting by optimizing the
core/winding loss balance, and then checking the saturation constraint.</p>
Basic Power Inductor Design