Slope gap inductor for line harmonic current reduction
AssigneeAstec International Limited
InventorAllen Tang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A slope gap inductor for reducing line harmonic currents. The slope gap inductor comprises a first inductor core portion, and a second inductor core portion positioned relative to said first inductor core portion so as to form an inductor gap, wherein the second inductor core portion includes a sloped gap surface that forms a sloped gap portion of the inductor gap having a varying gap height, and wherein the sloped gap surface has a slope value that is selected so that the slope gap inductor has a selected inductance value responsive to a level of current in the inductor.
Claims20
A slope gap inductor for use in an electronic circuit to reduce line harmonic current, the slope gap inductor comprising:
- a first inductor core portion;
- and
- a second inductor core portion positioned relative to said first inductor core portion so as to form an inductor gap, wherein the second inductor core portion includes a sloped gap surface that forms a sloped gap portion of the inductor gap having a varying gap height, and wherein the sloped gap surface has a slope value that is selected so that the slope gap inductor generates an inductance value responsive to a level of current in said inductor.
A method for providing a slope gap inductor for use in an electronic circuit to reduce line harmonic current, the method comprising steps of:
- determining current requirements of the inductor;
- determining a geometry for the inductor;
- calculating a minimum and a maximum gap size;
- calculating incremental gap sizes between the minimum and the maximum gap sizes;
- calculating inductance values for inductor segments associated with the minimum, maximum, and incremental gap sizes;
- deriving an effective average inductance for the inductor segments;
- and
- tuning the inductor segments until the effective average inductance approximates a theoretical curve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.