Inductor device with light weight configuration

Abstract

Inductor device comprising a rectangular prismatic electro-insulating support (10) with three pairs of parallel outer faces (11) defining orthogonal axis (X, Y, Z), and defining eight corners; a rectangular prismatic magnetic core (20) supported by said electro-insulating support (10); and three conductor wire windings (DX, DY, DZ) wound around the three axis (X, Y, Z) surrounding the magnetic core (20); wherein the magnetic core (20) is a hollow magnetic core (20) composed by three pairs of sheets (21), each pair of sheets (21) being composed by two parallel sheets (21) facing each other perpendicular to one of said axis (X, Y, Z), and wherein each sheet (21) is made of a magnetic material, said sheet (21) being in contact and attached to the electro-insulating support (10) and being in contact with the surrounding orthogonal sheets (21).

Claims

1. Inductor device with light weight configuration, comprising: a rectangular prismatic electro-insulating support with three pairs of parallel outer faces defining three axes X, Y and Z orthogonal to each other perpendicular to said outer faces and providing eight corner protrusions, one on each corner defined by the intersection between three of said outer faces; a rectangular prismatic isotropic magnetic core supported by said electro-insulating support; and three conductor wire windings arranged orthogonal to each other, wound around the three axes X, Y and Z surrounding the magnetic core; wherein: the magnetic core is a hollow box-like magnetic core with a hollow interior composed by three pairs of sheets confining the hollow interior of the magnetic core, each pair of sheets being composed by two parallel sheets facing each other perpendicular to one of said axes X, Y and Z; each sheet is a thin plate made of a magnetic material, has two parallel main faces on opposed sides of the sheet, said main faces being surrounded by a perimetral area, said sheet being in contact and attached to the electro-insulating support through one of said main faces, and being in contact with the surrounding orthogonal sheets through said perimetral area; the perimetral area of each sheet is at least partially beveled and is attached to a complementary beveled perimetral area of an adjacent sheet.

2. Inductor according to claim 1 wherein: the electro-insulating support has a rectangular prismatic hollow inner chamber defined by inner faces of the electro-insulating support which are parallel to the outer faces, all or all but one of the sheets have one main faces attached to one inner face of the electro-insulating support; and the wire windings are wound around and in contact with the outer faces of the electro-insulating support.

3. Inductor according to claim 2 wherein said inner chamber is accessible through an access opening defined at least in one of the outer faces of the electro-insulating support, being the access opening at least the same size as the hollow inner chamber.

4. Inductor according to claim 3 wherein the access opening is closed by an electro-insulating lid.

5. Inductor according to claim 2 wherein said electro-insulating support is composed by a first partial electro-insulating support, which contains part of the hollow inner chamber, and a second partial electro-insulating support, which contains the rest of the hollow inner chamber.

6. Inductor according to claim 5 wherein the electro-insulating support includes four corner protrusions on at least four corners surrounding one of the outer faces of the electro-insulating support, or includes eight corner protrusions on the eight corners of the electro-insulating support, each corner protrusion including winding limiting faces perpendicular to the orthogonal outer faces coincident on said corner, each winding limiting face facing winding limiting faces of other corner protrusions defining winding channels there between.

7. Inductor according to claim 2 wherein the electro-insulating support includes four corner protrusions on at least four corners surrounding one of the outer faces of the electro-insulating support, or includes eight corner protrusions on the eight corners of the electro-insulating support, each corner protrusion including winding limiting faces perpendicular to the orthogonal outer faces coincident on said corner, each winding limiting face facing winding limiting faces of other corner protrusions defining winding channels there between.

8. Inductor according to claim 1 wherein one main face of each sheet is attached to an outer face of the electro-insulating support, the wire windings being wound around and in contact with the main faces of the magnetic core not attached to the electro-insulating support.

9. Inductor according to claim 8 wherein: the electro-insulating support includes four corner protrusions on at least four corners surrounding one of the outer faces of the electro-insulating support, or includes eight corner protrusions on the eight corners of the electro-insulating support, each corner protrusion including winding limiting faces perpendicular to the orthogonal outer faces coincident on said corner and facing winding limiting faces of other corner protrusions defining winding channels there between, and wherein the sheets include notches on its perimetral area complementary with the corner protrusions, said corner protrusions protruding from the magnetic core.

10. Inductor according to claim 1 wherein each sheet is a multilayer sheet, each layer being made of a magnetic material.

11. Inductor according to claim 1 wherein all the sheets are square-shaped and have equal size, equal thickness and equal magnetic permeability, and all the windings are equal to each other, producing an isometric inductor.

12. Inductor according to claim 1 wherein the sheets are square-shaped or rectangular-shaped and/or have different thickness and/or different magnetic permeability to each other and/or the windings are different to each other.

13. Inductor according to claim 1 wherein the magnetic material constitutive of each sheet is made of ferrite, crystalline metal alloy, nano-crystalline metal alloy, amorphous metal alloy, or polymer bonded magnetics.

14. Inductor according to claim 1 wherein the sheets are flexible.

15. Inductor according to claim 1 wherein the inductor device is included in a device selected among: an electronic wearable device, virtual reality glasses, remote control, remote control gloves, smart watch, helmet, tablet, smart phone, smart fabric.

16. Inductor according to claim 1 wherein the inductor device is included in a device selected among: an electronic wearable device, virtual reality glasses, remote control, remote control gloves, smart watch, helmet, tablet, smart phone, smart fabric.

17. Electronic wearable device including an inductor device with light weight configuration, comprising: a rectangular prismatic electro-insulating support with three pairs of parallel outer faces defining three axes X, Y and Z orthogonal to each other perpendicular to said outer faces and providing eight corner protrusions, one on each corner defined by the intersection between three of said outer faces; a rectangular prismatic isotropic magnetic core supported by said electro-insulating support; three conductor wire windings arranged orthogonal to each other, wound around the three axis axes X, Y and Z and surrounding the magnetic core; wherein: the magnetic core is a hollow box-like magnetic core with a hollow interior composed by three pairs of sheets confining the hollow interior of the magnetic core, each pair of sheets being composed by two parallel sheets facing each other perpendicular to one of said axes X, Y and Z; each sheet is a thin plate made of a magnetic material, has two parallel main faces on opposed sides of the sheet, said main faces being surrounded by a perimetral area, said sheet being in contact and attached to the electro-insulating support through one of said main faces, and being in contact with the surrounding orthogonal sheets through said perimetral area; the perimetral area of each sheet is at least partially beveled and is attached to a complementary beveled perimetral area of an adjacent sheet.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) The foregoing and other advantages and features will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of an embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, to be taken in an illustrative and not limitative, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows an exploded perspective view according to a first embodiment in which the electro-insulating support is hollow and includes eight cube-shaped corner protrusions, wherein the sheets constitutive of the hollow magnetic core are squared defining an isometric inductor, are configured to be inserted in the inner chamber of the hollow electro-insulating support, said sheets being shown also in exploded array, and the electro-insulating support including one windings wound there around;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a perspective view according to a second embodiment, like the first embodiment, in which the electro-insulating support is also hollow, but it includes only four corner protrusions. In this embodiment the six sheets (configured to be included within the inner chamber of the hollow electro-insulating support) constitutive of the magnetic core are shown in an assembled configuration defining a cubic and hollow magnetic core;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a perspective view according to a third embodiment in which the electro-insulating support is also hollow, but it's constituted by two symmetric halves, being the magnetic core constituted by six sheets, shown in this figure in an exploded array, configured to be included within the inner chamber of the hollow electro-insulating support;

(5) FIG. 4 shows a perspective view according to a fourth embodiment in which the sheets, shown in exploded array around the electro-insulating support, are squared sheets having a squared notch on each corner, and wherein the electro-insulating support includes eight cube-shaped corner protrusions complementary with the squared notches of the sheets in such a way that each sheet can be attached to one outer face of the electro-insulating support being one corner protrusion housed on each squared notch of said sheet and protruding from said sheet;

(6) FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of the finished inductor device, according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the three windings are wounded around the magnetic core orthogonal to each other in the winding channels defined between the corner protrusions pf the electro-insulating support.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT

(7) The foregoing and other advantages and features will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of an embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, to be taken in an illustrative and not limitative, in which:

(8) The FIGS. 1 and 2 shows a first and second embodiments of the present invention in which an electro-insulating support 10, made of plastic, has three pairs of squared outer faces 11 defining a cube and three orthogonal axis X, Y and Z.

(9) Said electro-insulating support 10 is hollow defining an inner chamber accessible through an access opening defined in one of the outer faces 11. The inner chamber is defined between five inner faces 12 of the electro-insulating support 10, parallel to the outer faces 11 thereof.

(10) The access opening has the same size of the inner chamber, therefore one of the inner faces 12 corresponds with said access opening.

(11) A hollow squared magnetic core 20 is fitted within said inner chamber. Said magnetic core 20 is constituted by six squared sheets 21 arranged in three pairs, each pair of sheets being orthogonal to the other pairs of sheets and including two parallel sheets facing each other.

(12) Each sheet is made of a magnetic material, has a constant thickness for example below 0.5 mm, and has two opposed flat main faces 22 which are surrounded by a perimetral area 23.

(13) Said six sheets are fitted in the inner chamber of the electro-insulating support 10, each sheet 21 having a main face 22 attached to one inner face 12 of the electro-insulating support 10, and having one perimetral area 23 in contact with the perimetral area 23 of a surrounding sheet 21.

(14) Said perimetral areas 23 of the sheets 21 can be beveled in such a way that the contact with the surrounding sheets 21 will be produced through said beveled perimetral areas 23 of each sheet 21. Alternatively, the perimetral areas 23 can be in some cases coplanar with the main face 22 of the sheet 21 and in other cases perpendicular to the main face 22 of the sheet 21 in a flat edge, in such a way that a perimetral areas 23 coplanar with the main face 22 of a sheet 21 can be in contact with a perimetral areas 23 perpendicular to the main face 22 of an adjacent sheet 21.

(15) This disposition of the sheets 21 defines a cube-shaped hollow magnetic core 20 fitted within the electro-insulating support 10.

(16) Optionally the access opening can be sealed with an electro-insulating lid, which can be for example a plastic sheet or a resin or polymer poured and hardened on the access opening of the electro-insulating support 10 covering the magnetic core 20.

(17) Once the magnetic core 20 is fitted within the inner chamber of the electro-insulating support 10 three windings DX, DY and DZ are wound around three orthogonal axis and supported on the outer faces 11 of the electro-insulating support 10, surrounding the magnetic core 20, said windings being orthogonal to each other, as shown on FIG. 5.

(18) In addition, the electro-insulating support 10 can include a corner protrusion 13 on its corners, where three orthogonal outer faces 11 of the electro-insulating support 10 intersect to each other. Preferably said corner protrusions 13 can be included on the eight corers of the electro-insulating support 10, but it is also possible to include only four corner protrusions 13 on the corners of the electro-insulating support 10 spaced away from the access opening to the inner chamber, being this solution easier to manufacture in a cast.

(19) In these embodiments the corner protrusions 13 are cube-shaped, and each corner protrusion 13 including winding limiting faces 14 perpendiculars to the outer faces 11 of the electro-insulating support 10. Each winding limiting face 14 faces a parallel winding limiting face of another corner protrusion 13 defining a winding channel there between where the windings DX, DY and DZ can be wound. Said corner protrusions 13 help to the correct positioning of the windings, allowing a precise automatic winding.

(20) Corner protrusions 13 having winding limiting faces and having shapes other than cube-shaped are also contemplated.

(21) The third embodiment of the present invention, shown on FIG. 3, is similar to the first and second embodiments, having the same magnetic core 20 and the same corner protrusions 13 than said first and second embodiments. Of course, the corner protrusions 13 are optional features of this embodiment.

(22) But the electro-insulating support 10 of this third embodiment is proposed to be composed by a first partial electro-insulating support 15, which contains part of the hollow inner chamber, and a second partial electro-insulating support 16, which contains the rest of the hollow inner chamber.

(23) In the present embodiment this first and second partial electro-insulating supports 15, 16 are symmetric, and four outer faces 11 and four inner faces 12 of the electro-insulating support 10 are also divided between the first and second partial electro-insulating support 10. Despite the above other embodiments not shown on the figures are contemplated, for example one in where the first partial electro-insulating support 15 includes three complete outer faces 11 orthogonal to each other and correspondent three inner faces 12, and where the second partial electro-insulating support 16 includes the other three complete outer faces 11 orthogonal to each other.

(24) When said first and second partial electro-insulating supports 15 and 16 are detached to each other, the inner chamber of the electro-insulating support 10 is accessible to insert the magnetic core 20 therein. Once the magnetic core 20 has been fitted in the inner chamber the first and second partial electro-insulating supports 15 and 16 can be coupled together facing and aligning to each other the parts of the inner chamber contained on each of said first and second partial electro-insulating support 15, 16. Because of said coupling an electro-insulating support 10 is obtained wherein the magnetic core 20 is completely housed and isolated.

(25) The three orthogonal windings DX, DY, DZ can be wounded around the magnetic core 20 supported on the outer faces 11 of the electro-insulating support 10.

(26) FIG. 4 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention in which the electro-insulating support 10 is cube-shaped defining six outer faces 11, and wherein the six sheets 21 constitutive of the magnetic core 20 are attached surrounding the electro-insulating support 10, each sheet 21 having a main face 22 attached on one outer face 11 of the electro-insulating support 10.

(27) Each sheet is made of a magnetic material, has a constant thickness for example below 0.5 mm, and has two opposed flat main faces 22 which are surrounded by a perimetral area 23.

(28) Said six sheets are attached surrounding the electro-insulating support 10, each sheet 21 having one perimetral area 23 in contact with the perimetral area 23 of a surrounding sheet 21. Said perimetral areas 23 of the sheets 21 can be beveled in such a way that the contact with the surrounding sheets 21 will be produced through said beveled perimetral areas 23 of each sheet 21.

(29) According to the present fourth embodiment the three orthogonal windings DX, DY, DZ are supported directly on the sheets 21. Preferably in this case the windings will be made of isolated coils.

(30) In this embodiment the electro-insulating support 10 can be hollow in order to reduce its weight but it is not essential because the plastic weight is lower than the magnetic material weight.

(31) Preferably the electro-insulating support 10 of this fourth embodiment also has corner protrusions 13 similar to those corner protrusions defined above in the previous embodiments. In this case the sheets 21 constitutive of the magnetic core 20 shall include notches on its corners, being said notches complementary to the corner protrusions 13 of the electro-insulating support 10, so that when the sheets 21 are attached around the electro-insulating support 10 the corner protrusions 13 does not interfere with said sheets 21 and protrude from the magnetic core 20 defining the winding channels on the outer main faces 22 of the sheets 21.

(32) The wounding of the windings DX, DY and DZ as shown on FIG. 5 around the magnetic core will produce a similar inductor device in the first, second, third or fourth embodiments. The only differences will be that in the first, second and third embodiments the windings DX, DY and DZ the are supported on the electro-insulating support 10, but in the fourth embodiment the windings DX, DY, DZ are supported directly on the magnetic core 20.

(33) The inductor device resulting from the second embodiment will have only four corner protrusions 13. In this case it is proposed to attach four provisional detachable corner protrusions during the winding operations in order to define temporary winding channels.

(34) As will be understood by an expert, any embodiment of this invention can be adapted having a non-cube-shaped configuration, but having a prismatic configuration, without escaping the scope of protection of the present patent application.

(35) Said non-cube-shaped configuration can provide a non-isometric inductor device, but it can also provide an isometric inductor device, for example a planar isometric device. This can be achieved producing at least two asymmetries which compensate to each other.

(36) For example, if one pair of sheets 21 are squared, and the other sheets 21 are rectangular, using different thickness of the sheets 21, different magnetic conductivity of the sheets 21, or even a different number of turns on the different windings can compensate the differences produced by the different shape of the sheets 21, providing an isometric inductor device.

(37) It will be understood that various parts of one embodiment of the invention can be freely combined with parts described in other embodiments, even being said combination not explicitly described, provided there is no harm in such combination.