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.