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JFE Super Core is an innovative high performance magnetic core for the coming age of power electronics as a whole, and was developed by focusing on the 6.5% silicon composition, which provides the highest magnetic properties among all Fe-Si alloys.
It has long been known that the 6.5%Si-Fe alloy is characterized by extremely low core loss, zero magnetostriction, and high permeability. For example, transformers made from 6.5% Si electrical steel sheets were used in Apollo 11, which became the first manned spacecraft to land on the moon in 1969, taking advantage of the outstanding magnetic properties of this material.
However, in actuality, Fe-Si alloys become hard and brittle when the Si content exceeds 4%. For this reason, conventional rolling is extremely difficult, and industrial production had been considered impossible. In 1993, JFE Steel realized mass production of this dream material for the first time using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Since 2000, the company has sold this product in both Japan and world markets, beginning with Europe and the United States.
What advantages does JFE Super Core offer in specific products?
In inductors (choke, reactor), the 6.5% Si content improves electrical resistance, and because sheets of Super Core are thin, at 0.1mm, it is extremely effective in reducing core loss and especially eddy current loss.
These properties, in combination with its high saturation flux density, make it possible to produce very compact, low loss inductors with the advantages of light weight and high efficiency.
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| High-frequency transformer |
High-frequency reactors |
Super Core also has the outstanding property of zero magnetostriction, which means that these inductors are extremely quiet (low noise).
Perhaps the best examples of applications which take advantage of these features are photovoltaic generation (solar power) and hybrid cars. In photovoltaic generation, the direct current electricity generated by the panel (cell) is boosted and then converted to the commercial power frequency. The alternating current reactor which is necessary in this process must have high efficiency and low noise characteristics. Super Core is now beginning to be adopted in this application not only Japan, but also in Europe and the U.S. In the field of hybrid cars, Toyota’s Prius, which was the world’s first commercial hybrid car, uses Super Core in the step-up converter reactor, where quiet performance and low core loss are important.
Super Core is particularly advantageous in the 3-40kHz frequency band used in power chokes. Because Super Core has a high saturation flux density of 1.8T, use in inductors in place of the conventional ferrite and dust cores offers the advantages of more compact size, energy saving, and low noise.
Although Super Core is manufactured in thin sheets only 0.1mm in thickness, this is not a problem for the user, because the product is supplied in easy-to-use block form. Block cores are laminated and bonded cores which are manufactured in the customer’s desired size, considering convenience in use.
| Reactors for photovoltanic generation |
hybrid-car |
Other important applications include motors and generators. In many fields, multi-pole/high frequency designs are beginning to be adopted to meet the need for size reduction in medium and large capacity motors and generators, but here too, motor core heat generation and efficiency become problems. Because Super Core is a low core loss material, stator heat generation is reduced and a high efficiency motor is realized.
| Cores for Motors and Power Generators |
Laminated Cores |
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