Planar Transformer is operated in a temperature range of -55°C to +130°C.

Press Release Summary:

Planar Transformer have a smaller winding area with less AC winding resistance. Unit is operated at a switching frequency of range 50 kHz to 1 MHz and is suitable for military and aerospace project applications. Weighing 15g per 100 W, product is integrated with minimum electromagnetic interference and offers 10W - 20kW power ratings. Ideal for switch-mode power supply topologies, transformer provides less winding resistance and lower leakage inductance.


Original Press Release:

FRC Releases a New Product Line of Planar Transformer

FRC today announced a release of their new product line of Planar Transformer.

“Our main consumers have been asking us for a more affordable, efficient and smaller transformer and we’ve responded by developing and introducing this planar transformer line,” said Dr. Ahmed Elmahdawy, CEO of FRC Group, “Throughout our company, we strive to meet and exceed our customers product requirement and I believe that this new Planar Product line is probably the most cost effective solution for high frequency high power density power conversion equipments available today; which is a testimony of our commitment to our customers and this market.”

Product Introduction and Performance:

Planar transformers are devices used to exact standards with precise electrical characteristics such as capacitance, output, and aspect ratio. They are used to carry out military and aerospace projects.

Planar transformers are high frequency transformers used in isolated switchmode power supplies operating at high frequency. As opposed to conventional "wire-wound-on-a-bobbin" transformers, planar transformers usually contain winding turns made of thin copper sheets riveted together at the ends of turns in case of high current windings, or windings etched on a PCB in a spiral form. As the current conductors are thin sheets of copper, the operating frequency is not limited by the skin effect. As such, high power converters built with planar transformers can be designed to operate at relatively high switching frequencies, often 100kHz or above. This reduces the size of required magnetic components and capacitors, thereby increasing power density.

Highly efficient - yet compact - power conversion is fundamental to continued profitable growth of the telecommunications and data processing industries and of many others. Power conversion sub-systems furnish electrical energy in a form needed by these end-use equipments - 50volts DC for telecommunications, 5volts DC or 3volts DC for computers - are but typical examples. For safety reasons, transformers must invariably be incorporated, to galvanically isolate the end equipments from the 230volts or 117volts, 50 or 60 Hz AC mains, as well as to adapt the output voltage to the proper level. In such units, size is directly related to switching frequency, higher frequencies translating into smaller volume, and also into higher efficiency, if the right transformer design is chosen. In the past, operating frequencies much above 20kHz were precluded by the non-availability of suitable switching transistors. Now, with power MOSFETs (Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor) capable of converting power at frequencies well above 200kHz, the major obstacles to ongoing performance improvements in power supplies are the limitations inherent in conventional "wire-wound-on-a-bobbin" transformers and companion inductors.

Transformers made of the planar principle eliminate virtually all the shortcomings of old-fashioned wire wound types. In a planar design, the windings are made so of copper foil lead frames or printed circuit boards. (a flat copper spirals laminated into thin dielectric substrates). These windings are then sandwiched, along with appropriate insulators, between large area, yet thin, state-of-the-art ferrite cores. This construction technique yields a host of benefits :

Advantages Over Conventional Counterparts:

  • High power density
  • Significantly reduced height (low profile)
  • Greater surface area, resulting in improved heat dissipation capability
  • Greater magnetic cross-section area, enabling fewer turns
  • Smaller winding area
  • Winding structure facilitates interleaving
  • Lower leakage inductance resulting from fewer turns and interleaved windings
  • Less AC winding resistance
  • Excellent reproducibility, enabled by winding structure
  • High efficiency 98%
  • Low leakage inductance, typically less than 0.2% for ungapped cores
  • Low profile, small volume, for high power density equipment designs
  • Unparalleled working frequency range : 50kHz to 1MHz
  • Unmatched repeatability and predictability : All windings are pre- tooled
  • Configurations for all Switchmode Power Supply (SMPS) topologies
  • Multiple windings available (from one to seven secondaries)
  • 10W - 20kW power ratings
  • Efficient High cooling
  • High Efficient Heat dissipation and cooling
  • Low weight : 15g per 100W
  • Minimum Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)
  • Wide Operating temperature range : -55°C to +130°C

About Company:

FRC, an international company with headquarters in Florida, develops and manufactures avionics and telecommunications products.

For more information see www.frccorp.com.

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