Thermal Characterization of Magnetic Components in Still Air

Accurate measurement of losses in magnetic components and the resulting temperature behavior is essential for device characterization and thermal model validation. However, some factors such as the significant phase displacement angle between voltage and current, and the practical challenges of measuring high-frequency electrical quantities need to be considered when choosing excitation equipment, probes, and assembling test setups. This work proposes an experimental and non-invasive procedure for acquiring temperatures of magnetic components in stagnant air with prescribed constant input power. The electrical modeling of the system, the choice of suitable equipment and probes for measuring losses, the structure of the system, pre-test procedures, and other system components are discussed in detail. The validation of the procedure and the experimental setup was performed through testing of E-core and toroidal inductors, altogether with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for an extended range of power losses. Finally, the results presented an excellent agreement, proving that the proposed methodology is a reliable tool for assessing the thermal behavior of magnetic components.