ZHCSCA8A March 2014 – April 2019 TPS65286
PRODUCTION DATA.
The higher operating frequency allows the use of smaller inductor and capacitor values. A higher frequency generally results in lower efficiency because of MOSFET gate charge losses. In addition to this basic trade-off, the effect of inductor value on ripple current and low current operation must also be considered. The ripple current depends on the inductor value. The inductor ripple current iL decreases with higher inductance or higher frequency and increases with higher input voltage VIN. Accepting larger values of iL allows the use of low inductances, but results in higher output voltage ripple and greater core losses.
To calculate the value of the output inductor, use Equation 11. LIR is a coefficient that represents inductor peak-to-peak ripple to DC load current. LIR is suggested to choose to 0.1 ~ 0.3 for most applications.
Actual core loss of inductor is independent of core size for a fixed inductor value, but it is very dependent on inductance value selected. As inductance increases, core losses go down. Unfortunately, increased inductance requires more turns of wire and therefore copper losses will increase. Ferrite designs have very low core loss and are preferred for high switching frequencies, so design goals can concentrate on copper loss and preventing saturation. Ferrite core material saturates hard, which means that inductance collapses abruptly when the peak design current is exceeded. It results in an abrupt increase in inductor ripple current and consequent output voltage ripple. Do not allow the core to saturate. It is important that the RMS current and saturation current ratings are not exceeding the inductor specification. The RMS and peak inductor current can be calculated from Equation 13 and Equation 14.
For this design example, use LIR = 0.3 and the inductor is calculated to be 4.40 µH with VIN = 24 V. Choose 4.7 µH value of the standard inductor, the peak to peak inductor ripple is about 28.1% of 6-A DC load current.