SBIR-STTR Award

The goal of this project is to establish the feasibility of Liquid Cooled Inductors (LCI) of high Power Density. To accomplish this, Premag has teamed with a system builder to develop a prototypical inductor design. The LCI will be designed to reduce the weight of inductors in a prototypical Navy power converter. The LCI will consist of high-flux-density core, coil and heat exchanger. A trade-off study will be conducted to select optimum magnetic material and geometry that offers highest flux density with lowest loss. Optimal coil configuration that is easy to cool by liquid means and yet minimizes eddy and proximity losses will be developed. A heat exchanger that cools both coil and core and offers lowest possible thermal resistance will also be evolved. A laboratory model of the inductor will be constructed to establish the operating principle. A preliminary layout of the LCI for a specific Navy application is the end result of this effort. The power converter system builder will perform the technical oversight function. The information gathered from the trade-off studies will be used to estimate the viability of the configuration to meet the target goals for weight and volume reduction. The developed Liquid Cooled Inductor will find immediate usage in large power converters. They are useful in the emerging distributed power market. Typical applications include fuel cell and wind energy systems, hybrid vehicles, dc-dc converters etc. Of special interest are aircraft power converters, ship propulsion systems and large-scale adjustable speed drives

The goal of this project is to develop and demonstrate a Nano-Inductor of high power density. The Nano-inductor will use recently developed nano-tape materials. These materials offer very low core-loss and hence yield a more efficient inductor that is more compact and light weight. In Phase I we designed an air-cooled nano-inductor and determined that it offers lower power losses and is smaller and lighter than a comparable commercial inductor. In this phase II, we propose to fabricate and test the performance of a target inductor and establish the benefits offered by it. The target inductor could be either the air-cooled 90 kW inductor for Northrop Corporation or liquid cooled 250 kW inductor for SAIC Inc, with both firms interested in supporting the technology development. A decision on which inductor will be targeted for development will be made by the Navy personnel during the kickoff meeting. To accomplish the development, Premag will work with the chosen system builders to develop a prototypical inductor design. A subscale model of the inductor will be constructed to verify its operating principle. A full scale prototype inductor will then be fabricated and tested for electrical and thermal performance. The development and demonstration of nano-inductor technology is the end result of this effort.

Keywords:
Power Converters, Inductors, Transformers, All Electric Ship, Inverter, Variable Speed Drive, And Lo