This presentation reviews the different approaches for magnetics in multiphase DC-DC converters. Conventional discrete inductors (DL) are used as a benchmark against coupled inductors (CL) and TLVR. Boosted coupled inductors (BCL) are introduced to address the main TLVR problem. A performance-based Figure of Merit is proposed to compare the different magnetic structures. A notch coupled inductor (NCL) is proposed to maximize the introduced FOM. Experimental results confirm a significant performance advantage of the proposed optimization. This comparison methodology should be very helpful for engineers that design multiphase converters, need to compare different design options and optimize the power systems.
