MEASUREMENTS OF INDUCTOR PROPERTIES VS.

NUMBER OF TURNS AND AIR GAP

Lindsay Wilson 20/07/12

INTRODUCTION CORE USED AND MEASUREMENT METHOD

The dimensions of the ferrite core are shown in Fig. 1 and a photo in Fig. 2. The core is from a standard TV
flyback and was originally gapped by about 0.25mm.
41.00
14.60

12.00

69.00

14.40

45.00

12.00

14.40

14.40

Cross sec!on

12.00

12.00

Cross sec!on

FIG. 1: CORE DIMENSIONS (MM)

FIG. 2: CORE AND COIL PHOTO

A coil was wound on a 15.7mm diameter former using 1.2mm diameter wire. The coil was placed centrally
over the join between the core halves. Inductance and saturation current were measured by applying a
constant voltage pulse to the coil and observing the increasing current waveform with a sense resistor.
Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show the circuit used to test the inductor.
+30V

D1
BYV32-200

L1
Test
inductor

Q1
IRF640

Pulse input

R1
50m
Current sense

0V
FIG. 3: TESTING CIRCUIT

FIG. 4: PHOTO OF TESTING CIRCUIT

For an excellent reference on inductor and core construction, including the effect of gapping, please see:
http://info.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Workshop/advice/coils/gap/index.html

INDUCTANCE AND INDUCTANCE FACTOR (AL) VS. TURNS

The inductance was measured with different numbers of turns on the core. This was done for both an
ungapped core and a gap of 0.06mm. The inductance is shown in Fig. 5. The inductance factor, AL, measured in
nH, is calculated from the inductance & number of turns and is shown in Fig. 6. The inductance factor is used in
2
the equation L= AL*N to calculate the inductance from the number of turns.

3000

1000

No gap

No gap
0.06mm gap

Inductance factor AL

Inductance (uH)

800

600

400

200

0.06mm gap

2500
2000
1500
1000
500

10

12

14

16

18

# Turns

10

12

14

16

18

# Turns

FIG. 5: INDUCTANCE VS. TURNS

FIG. 6: INDUCTANCE FACTOR VS. TURNS

Unsurprisingly, the inductance shows a parabolic relationship to the number of turns, since the calculated
value of the inductance factor is reasonably independent of the turns. The inductance is lower with a gapped
-2
-2
core - AL is around 2500nH turns for an ungapped core, and around 1000nH turns for a 0.06mm gap.

SATURATION CURRENT AND AMPERE-TURNS VS. TURNS

Fig. 7 shows the saturation current vs. turns. As the number of turns is decreased, the saturation current
increases, since it takes a higher current to produce the same field strength inside the core. Additionally, a
gapped core results in a much higher saturation current nearly 3x, with only a 0.06mm gap. If we plot the
ampere-turns required for saturation (obtained by simply multiplying saturation current by the number of
turns), Fig. 8, we see that it is relatively independent of the turns around 20 for an ungapped core, and
around 60 for a 0.06mm gap.

12

80
No gap

Ampere turns for saturation

10
Saturation current (A)

No gap

70

0.06mm gap

8
6
4
2
0

10

12

14

16

60
50
40
30
20
10
0

18

# Turns

0.06mm gap

10

12

14

16

18

# Turns

FIG. 7: SATURATION CURRENT VS. TURNS

FIG. 8: SATURATION AMPERE-TURNS VS. TURNS

This is interesting for a particular core configuration, it is the ampere-turns which determines when the core
saturates. For example, if we had 100 turns on an ungapped core, the saturation current would be
20/100=0.2A.

MAXIMUM STORED ENERGY VS. TURNS

1

Fig. 9 shows how the maximum stored energy varies with turns. This is calculated from E= /2*L*ISAT . Ignoring
the slight variation, which is due to uncertainty in determining the exact saturation current, the maximum
stored energy remains constant, regardless of turns. In addition, the energy is higher with a gapped core
significantly higher, increasing from 0.5mJ to 2mJ with only a 0.06mm gap. This is because, although the
inductance decreases with an air gap (in this example, by about 2.5x, see Fig. 6), the saturation current
increases by about 3x, and since the energy is proportional to the square of the current, this outweighs the
effect of a smaller inductance.
This is the second interesting point the energy storage limit does not depend on the number of turns, but
only on the core and gap configuration. Which makes some sense, because, after all, the energy is being stored
in the core and air gap.

2.5

Maximum energy (mJ)

2.0

No gap
1.5

0.06mm gap

1.0

0.5

0.0
0

10

12

14

16

18

# Turns

FIG. 9: MAXIMUM STORED ENERGY VS. TURNS

INDUCTANCE AND INDUCTANCE FACTOR (AL) VS GAP

Having seen the effect of the number of turns on various parameters, we now look at the effect of the air gap.
In all the following graphs, the number of turns was constant at 18.5.
Fig. 10 and Fig. 11 show the inductance and inductance factor vs. air gap. As expected, both decrease sharply
as the gap is increased (sort of exponentially), but the decrease slows above about 0.1mm.

1200

3500

3000

Inductance factor AL

Inductance (uH)

1000

800

600

400

200

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.0

Gap (mm)

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

Gap (mm)

FIG. 10: INDUCTANCE VS. GAP

FIG. 11: INDUCTANCE FACTOR VS. GAP

0.6

SATURATION CURRENT AND AMPERE-TURNS VS. GAP

Next, Fig. 12 and Fig. 13 show the saturation current and saturation ampere-turns vs. gap spacing. Both
increase approximately linearly. The increase is huge for example, a 0.3mm gap results in a saturation
current of around 10A over twenty times the saturation current with an ungapped core.

18

350

16

Ampere turns for saturation

300

Saturation current (A)

14

12

10

250

200

150

100

50

0
0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.0

0.1

0.2

Gap (mm)

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Gap (mm)

FIG. 12: SATURATION CURRENT VS. GAP

FIG. 13: SATURATION AMPERE-TURNS VS. GAP

MAXIMUM STORED ENERGY VS. GAP

Fig. 14 shows the maximum stored energy vs. the gap spacing. Again, since the effect of an increased
saturation current is more significant than the reduced inductance, the energy limit increases with gap
spacing. The effect is, again, dramatic a 0.3mm gap results in around sixteen times more stored energy than
an ungapped core.

16

Maximum energy (mJ)

14

12

10

0
0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Gap (mm)

FIG. 14: MAXIMUM STORED ENERGY VS. GAP

CONCLUSIONS
Both the saturation current and maximum stored energy are independent of the number of turns and depend
only on the core and gap configuration. As the core gap is increased, the saturation current increases
approximately linearly, while the inductance factor decreases sort of exponentially.
I realize these results are probably obvious to people who know about inductors and magnetics, but I find it
nice to have some experimental demonstration of them!