Taiyo Yuden - Power Inductor for LED Flash DC-DC Converters

6th August 2009

Taiyo Yuden

ES Admin

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TAIYO YUDEN has announces the compact, high-performance NRV3012 , a new 3 mm x 3 mm x 1.2 mm height (max) wire-wound power inductor for LED flash DC-DC converter applications in camera-equipped cell phones and other portable electronic devices. The NRV3012 claims the industry's best DC bias characteristics of any power inductor in its size class. The device's 1.8 A rated current (based on DC saturation) represents a 60 percent improvement over the company's previous 1.1 A maximum rated current. Moreover, the NRV3012 reduces device surface area by 40 percent compared to previous 4-mm-square wire-wound power inductors with equivalent DC bias performance.

In addition to the latest camera-equipped cell phones with built-in LED flash units for low-light-level photography, LED flash technology is gaining use in mobile music players with built-in cameras, digital still cameras and other devices. LED flash voltage conversion circuits typically require a DC-DC converter, the physical dimensions of which continue to shrink as a result of market miniaturization demands. The design challenge is to make the power inductor--the key component in the conversion circuit--smaller and thinner without compromising the DC bias characteristics needed to prevent inductance loss, even with large DC currents.

TAIYO YUDEN solved this requirement by redesigning the round drum/sleeve core used by conventional inductors into a unique sleeveless, square-core winding that eliminates all wasted space and thickens the lead wire inside the inductor to achieve the lowest possible DC resistance.

Another core-related design improvement favorably impacts manufacturability and unit cost without harming performance. Most conventional LED flash DC-DC converters use inductors with cores made of relatively expensive metallic materials. By contrast, the NRV3012's less costly ferrite construction matches the DC bias and other performance characteristics of equivalent-size inductors made with more expensive materials.

By virtue of its high performance and smaller size, the NRV3012 offers customers greater design flexibility by allowing 4 x 4 mm or larger power inductors to be replaced by significantly smaller components.