US 8,947,187 B2Granted

Inductor apparatus and method of manufacture thereof

OwnerGrant A. MacLennaninventor

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Abstract

The invention comprises an electrical apparatus and method of manufacture. The apparatus includes a substantially annular inductor comprising an inductor core composed of at least a distributed gap material. The distributed gap material includes particles of alternating layers of magnetic and non-magnetic materials separated by a gap material. The particles comprise an average layer thickness of less than about one hundred micrometers, where a majority of said layered particles comprise an average cross sectional size of less than about one millimeter. The inductor is cooled using at least one of: a thermally conductive potting material, a liquid coolant in direct contact with the inductor, a cooling line through the potting material or liquid coolant, and a chill coil in a container about the potting material and/or the liquid coolant.

Claims9

Dependent claims

An electrical apparatus, comprising:

a substantially annular inductor, said inductor comprising:
an inductor core comprising at least a distributed gap material, said distributed gap material comprising a plurality of particles,
wherein each of said plurality of particles comprises at least four alternating layers, said alternating layers alternating between a magnetic material layer and a substantially non-magnetic material layer, and
wherein an average gap distance between two adjacent particles of said plurality of particles is greater than zero and less than one millimeter;
and
at least one of:
an inductor core coating substantially coating at least a portion of said inductor core;
an inductor winding circumferentially wound about at least a portion of said inductor core;
and
an inductor winding coating substantially coating at least a portion of said inductor winding;
and
a liquid coolant directly contacting said inductor.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.