s the name prefaces the operating frequency of these transformers would be typically around few

hundred kilo hertz. The main significance of these transformers is in Switched Mode Power
Supplies. The main conceptual idea of Switched Mode Power Supply is that it is using energy
efficient devices to transfer/convert the Power (A.C./D.C) from the source to the sink/load. One
such energy efficient device is High Frequency Pulse Transformer. The switching frequency of
these SMPSs (Switched Mode Power Supply) system will be very high as a concern it reduces
the size of magnetics (like transformer and inductor) and and it reduces the ripple and so on. In
later sessions we will be discussing about complete design of High frequency transformer from
fundamentals for a DC-DC converter as an application.

High Frequency Transformer Designing

There are two main core requirements of High Frequency Transformer in the SMPS system. 1.
To match the voltage levels of Source and the Load 2. To provide electrical isolation between the
power circuits. The schematic diagram of the Transformer is as shown below,

We can basically categorize the transformer circuitry as

Electrical Circuit and Magnetic Circuit.
The electrical equivalent circuit of a transformer is shown below,

Where primary electric circuit is

represented with a current source representing the relation
and secondary electrical circuit is represented with a voltage source representing the relation
The magnetic equivalent circuit is shown taking a Toroid
Core as magnetic medium for common flux,

Where = permeability of the magnetic

medium V1 = primary voltage V2= Secondary voltage N1= Primary turns N2= Secondary turns
Ac= Effective Core Area. I1 = Primary Current I2 = Secondary Current The normal frequency
(50HZ) transformer is classified depending on the Core used as 1. Core type transformer 2. Shell
type transformer. Generally Shell type core is preferred for High frequency transformer. The
prime reason for selecting shell type topology of core for high frequency application is the 3rd
harmonic components will circulate with in primary without entering in to the secondary power
circuit which is similar to delta connection. Also as the flux divides in the outer limbs it offers
less core losses. The commonly used shell core is EE - Core. In general CRGO (Cold Rolled
Grain Oriented) Silicon Steel Ferromagnetic material is used as magnetic core for Power
transformers and Distribution transformers. How so ever in some of the distribution transformers
Amorphous Core is used. But in High frequency transformers generally Ferrite Cores are
used. Commonly for frequencies less than 5 MHz manganese-zinc ferrites are used above which
nickel-zinc ferrites are of common choice. These ferrites offers very low coercivity, that means
the material's magnetization can easily in reverse direction without dissipating much energy
(hysteresis losses), Even they do not need core lamination to reduce Eddy Current losses as the
Powder core itself offers High resistance. Only concern with ferrites is its operating maximum
flux density is limited to maximum of 0.5 T while it is a maximum of 2.2 T for ferromagnetic
cores and 1.8 T for amorphous cores.

Popularly EE Cores is used to form the Shell type High frequency transformer. Its geometric

version is as shown below,

Where Ac= Effective Core Area of the transformer where the actual magnetic flux passes. Aw =
Window Area, which provides the accommodation to primary winding, secondary winding and a
portion of it to the insulation. Deducing a relation for Ac (Core Area) and Aw (Window Area) :
The high frequency transformers are also called Pulse transformer as the input voltage wave
form commonly applied to it is a pulse train as depicted in the figure below. The flux waveform
is also shown in it which is integral of voltage waveform from the relation

Faradays

law of electromagnetic induction.

Where
Ts= total switching time period A) From the above waveform we shall now derive a relationship

for Aw (Core Area) :

Secondly we shall derive an equation for Aw ( Window Area) :

B)

Let, a1 = area of primary winding

a2 = area of secondary winding
J = Current density of copper
Kw = window space factor.
N1, N2, I1, I2 = No. of turns and current corresponding to primary and secondary

respectively.
As discussed earlier Window area of a transformer provides accommodation for primary and
secondary winding. But entire window area is not used for the winding a portion of it is used for
insulation therefore a factor Kw is introduced which is called window space factor or window

utilization factor.

From

equation 1 and equation 2,

V1 = 48 V, V2 = 400 V and I2 = 3 A. High Frequency (50 kHz) Application. Now we

need to design transformer for above application, Assumptions: Let the Bm= 0.2 T,

J= 3 A/mm2, Kw= 0.35. Step 1: Selection of Core. From the equation (3) that we
have derived, there substituting all the values and finding the value of window and

core area.
After we derive this
value, from the data sheets of the Core we need to select the appropriate core. A
typical data for ETD Cores is given below,
ETD Core Series Data
Type Number

Ac (mm2)

Aw (mm2)

AcAw (mm4)

ETD 29/16/10

76

128

9728

ETD 34/17/11

97

171

16587

ETD 39/20/13

125

234

29250

ETD 44/22/15

173

279

48267

ETD 49/25/16

211

343

72373

ETD 54/28/19

280

412

115360

ETD 59/31/22

368

473

174064

From the above table we can conclude that ETD 49/25/16 is the required core for
our application. Step 2: Deriving No. of Primary Turns and No. of Secondary (N 1 and

N2)

NOTE: The Core Area (Ac)

Value is taken from the ETD/49/25/16 Core

Step 3: Deriving
primary and secondary conductor size/gauge(a 1 and a2) Generally for copper
conductor the current density J is taken as 3A / mm 2.

Step 4: Deriving primary

resistances and secondary resistances. Once on calculating the mean length of the
turn from the geometry of ETD/49/25/16 core the resistance is derived from
formulae,
For ETD 49/25/16
core mean length of a turn = 83 mm Primary Resistance = 10 , Secondary
resistance = 629 Step 5: Deriving primary inductance and secondary

inductance.
Note: The value of le
& Ac is taken from the core magnetic characteristics as shown in the below for
ETD49/25/16 Core. The value of r/ e is taken from core material characteristics.
For instance let the core material is ungapped N27 material. The data for ETD
49/25/16 Core is shown below.