Single phase surface mount swing inductor component and methods of fabrication

An inductor component for power supply circuitry implemented on a circuit board, the inductor component comprises:

• a single conductive coil configured to establish surface mount connections to a single phase of the power supply circuitry, the single conductive coil including elongated first and second legs each having a rectangular cross section, the elongated first and second legs further being spaced apart but extending generally parallel to one another;
• and
• a magnetic core structure receiving and enclosing each of the elongated first and second legs of the single conductive coil, the magnetic core structure being defined by a bottom wall abutting the circuit board, a plurality of exterior side walls extending above the bottom wall and being spaced from the elongated first and second legs, and a plurality of interior side walls extending above the bottom wall while being adjacent to and surrounding the respective elongated first and second legs, wherein the magnetic core structure comprises an assembly of identically shaped discrete first and second magnetic core pieces, wherein the identically shaped magnetic core pieces are E-shaped core pieces, and wherein the first magnetic core piece comprises a first physical gap and the second magnetic core piece comprises a second physical gap;
• wherein first and second physical gaps are respectively formed in the magnetic core structure, each of the first and second physical gaps extending incompletely through a respective one of an opposing pair of the exterior side walls, and each of the first and second physical gaps being located to respectively intersect a flux path generated by current flow in only one of the elongated first or second legs;
• wherein by virtue of the first and second physical gaps the inductor component operates as a swing-type inductor component with multiple steps of inductance roll off.