Choosing the correct Inductor for a DC-DC step-up regulator - Part 3

RE: Choosing the correct Inductor for a DC-DC step-up regulator - Part 3

weiwei2 — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 07:49:59 GMT

very interesting to do and measure own inductor. i am incline to do some simulation on them [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-fd329e32-656c-4aac-a124-160c8d8efbf6/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16]

i used to see my father wind his own transformer in my younger days, back then (and i believe probably up to today), many electrician will need to make custom transformer for repair or customization purpose on the facility they maintain

the transformer has many similarity to inductor although i am far from being an expert in it

RE: Choosing the correct Inductor for a DC-DC step-up regulator - Part 3

shabaz — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 00:12:30 GMT

Hi Gene,

Awesome to see the self-wound inductor comparison. It can give excellent results, but as you suggest, home production rates of them can be low!

It's a great trick to pre-wind thick wire - I'll have to remember that.

I've still got an antenna project in-progress, in that case, the inductor 'wire' is copper pipe hehe. I don't have a tool for that, but fortunately found a supplier who sells that pre-shaped.

RE: Choosing the correct Inductor for a DC-DC step-up regulator - Part 3

three-phase — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 21:45:29 GMT

Very interesting blog, well done Gene.

Kind regards

RE: Choosing the correct Inductor for a DC-DC step-up regulator - Part 3

jw0752 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 19:12:58 GMT

Hi Gene,

I liked that you took things one step further and wound your own inductor. There is always a lot to learn from getting involved with a part at as basic a level as possible.

John

RE: Choosing the correct Inductor for a DC-DC step-up regulator - Part 3

Andrew J — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 17:51:05 GMT

The hand wound inductor seems to perform pretty well. IIRC, your DC-DC regulator is fixed voltage output isn't it, controlled by jumper setting, so it's not possible to a load voltage change? There's not a lot of drooping/rising at the switch points in the graphs above - a bit more in the 1uH which takes longer to recover but not a lot in it. I think in your last post you said you would choose a 2.0uH or 3.3uH inductor in future and it looks like that would be a good trade off on ripple and transient change.

I've found this whole subject area of Inductors, regulators, switchers, capacitors, MOSFETs etc absolutely fascinating - infuriating at times, but fascinating. Thanks for doing these experiments, they have been really interesting to follow.