Challenges and considerations of designing power supplies with planar construction

NASHUA, N.H. - Companies operating in the space must constantly innovate—and at the board level, planar magnetics are one of the best and most cost-effective ways to address high-frequency circuits with high power density.

Planar construction refers to the use of thin, flat layers of materials to construct magnetics, such as transformers and inductors. In this presentation we will review various planar transformer advantages and disadvantages to help power electronics engineers make optimal design selections. Some advantages include: 

• Planar construction allows for more compact and lightweight designs and interleaving can improve primary to secondary coupling and minimize parasitics such as leakage inductance and eddy effects.
• Planar magnetics can be mass-produced using automated processes, such as printed circuit board making the electrical parameters extremely consistent and highly predictable.
• Planar transformers and inductors can be more resistant to mechanical stresses, such as vibration and shock, due to their flat and rigid structure making them optimal for high reliability environments

Like anything related to power electronics, what you utilize in the design may also have some drawbacks. Cons to utilizing planar construction include:

• Planar designs will typically have significantly higher capacitive parameters than their wirewound counterparts. Sensitive topologies will need to account for this in their circuit design or implementing shielding
• Planar transformers are relatively inexperienced power supply designers may find the optimization process overly arduous
• The manufacturing process for planar magnetics can be more complex and may require specialized equipment, which can increase costs.

Join Military + Aerospace Electronics' associate editor Jamie Whitney and Standex Electronics' Chris Riccardella. The magnetics products manager for Standex, Riccardella is a Mechanical engineer by degree but has more than 10 years of real-world experience designing planar transformers and working hand in hand to help power supply designers successfully launch cutting edge products that push the limits of power density.

This webinar will take place on Tuesday, 14 February 2023 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. Click here and register today!