Analysis and design of coupled inductors for two-phase interleaved dc-dc converters

Multiphase dc-dc converters are widely used in modem power electronics applications due to their advantages over single-phase converters. Such advantages include reduced current stress in both the switching devices and passive elements, reduced output current ripple, and so on. Although the output current ripple of a converter can be significantly reduced by virtue of the interleaving effect, the inductor current ripple cannot be reduced even with the interleaving PWM method. One way to solve this problem is to use a coupled inductor. However, care must be taken in designing the coupled inductor to maximize its performances. In this paper, a detailed analysis of a coupled inductor is conducted and the effect of a coupled inductor on current ripple reduction is investigated extensively. From this analysis, a UU core based coupled inductor structure is proposed to maximize the performance of the coupled inductor.