At least four reasons, why new metal composite inductors outperform 20th century ferrite technology

Traditional ferrite constructions had been the inductors of choice for many decades, albeit revealing a number of weak spots being immanent to that physiochemical setup. With the rise of metal composite inductors, however, there has finally been a leap in overcoming the disadvantages of 20th-century technology.

But what exactly are the key differences between these two types of inductors? In the following, we try to answer this question by explaining the different characteristics that emerge from different material and structure, looking at the range of metal composite inductors from Panasonic Industry – one of this technology’s pioneering companies.

The choice for downsizing

Metal composite inductors come with a remarkably higher energy density compared to their ferrite predecessors. This leads to 30% - 50% smaller case sizes which, for example, serves the trend for downsizing high current ECU power circuits. Furthermore, smaller case sizes also have the pleasant side-effect of being less prone to get damaged in harsh or vibrating environments. A true plus in terms of long term reliability.

Evolution of DC Bias characteristics

Excellent magnetic saturation characteristics of metal composite inductors (i.e. Ferrite core = 0.4T vs. Metal Composite Type = above 1.5T) render it difficult to magnetically saturate, which in turn is resulting in good inductance vs. current performance, without a substantial drop off. In comparison, ferrite inductors do not only suffer from a fairly quicker inductance drop off. Their inductance also suffers the undesirable effect that it varies with temperature, whereas the performance of their metal composite counterparts is stable over the entire specified temperature range. Naturally, the qualification of applications using ferrite inductors needs increased effort compared to metal composite inductors due to consideration of different temperature ranges.

Robust, qua Natura

Ferrite inductors consist of several sintered parts being constructively composed with an air gap inside the body, whereas metal composite inductors are based on a monolithic design without air gap. Due to that assembled structure, the ferrite types’ resistance to vibrations is limited to <4G to maximum 10G. Opposed to that, the monolithic structure of the Panasonic Industry metal composite inductors leads to a significantly higher vibration resistance - up to 50G, depending on the inductor type.

Low EMI noise

Also in terms of a lower leakage flux outside the power inductors, the point goes to the metal composite types: Their monolithic structure causes by far less leakage as the magnetic flux simply is concentrated inside the inductor housing.

To briefly summarize: Modern metal composite inductors clearly outperform the rather archaic ferrite technology in many regards. Hence, they are more and more finding their way into contemporary application design, in particular in the automotive industry.

Small package sizes, a stable inductance over DC current and temperature, high reliability as well as mechanical robustness and not at least a low EMI noise are nowadays essential prerequisites for next-gen product design. In all these aspects, metal composite inductors make their ferrite ancestors look as old as they are indeed: Basically a post-WWII technology that hasn’t been questioned for many years – until Panasonic Industry succeeded in becoming a pioneer for establishing metal composite types as a 21st-century coil of choice, suitable for a vast field of modern designs.