Calorimetric Comparison of Power Inductors for Automotive Applications

This research work presents an ad-hoc calorimetric measurement system for the power loss comparison of inductors. The inductors are used for corona ignition systems in automotive applications. For the ignition, resonance conditions have to be achieved between the inductors and spark plugs. Therefore, the working frequency and inductance values have to be determined, as well as core material, sizes, and conductor type. In this work, thermal Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations have been used to define the characteristics of the system, to obtain good sensitivity without overheating the prototypes. After trying some solutions, the one suitable for our purpose was identified, i.e., the solution that provides sufficiently accurate measurements with enough resolution to find the inductor that dissipates less among a set of different samples which resulted in being equivalent during the electromagnetic design.