Additive Manufacturing of Coreless Flyback Transformers Using Aerosol Jet Printing and Electrochemical Deposition

Tsui, Lok-Kun; Hartmann, Thomas M.; Dye, Joshua; Lavin, Judith M.

doi:10.1109/tcpmt.2023.3300579

Additive Manufacturing of Coreless Flyback Transformers Using Aerosol Jet Printing and Electrochemical Deposition

Journal Article · Mon Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/tcpmt.2023.3300579· OSTI ID:2311674

^[1]; Hartmann, Thomas M. ^[2]; ^[2]; Lavin, Judith M. ^[2]

University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

An additive manufacturing approach combining aerosol jet printing (AJP) and electrodeposition opens a new pathway to the production of lightweight coreless flyback transformer devices for power electronics. AJP of seed layers with resolution on the order of 30 μm is combined with electrodeposition of Cu and Ni for decreased resistance. This combined approach addresses known shortcomings of AJP and electrodeposition. Nanoparticle inks used in AJP of metals have low conductivity versus bulk materials due to their high grain boundary resistance. There is a lack of readily available high-resolution patterning techniques for electrodeposition outside of expensive clean-room-based lithography techniques. Combining these two techniques enables the patterning of high-resolution, high-conductivity components. Here in this manuscript, we report on the construction of coreless flyback transformers consisting of two-layer primary and two-layer secondary spiral inductors separated by layers of a printed UV-curable dielectric. An input voltage of 17 V at 400 kHz was amplified to an output of 1250 V corresponding to a gain of 73.5. COMSOL modeling at the individual inductor level and at the transformer level was used to compare expected inductance, equivalent series resistance (ESR), and coupling with experimentally measured values.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003525

OSTI ID:: 2311674

Report Number(s):: SAND--2023-09727J

Journal Information:: IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 13; ISSN 2156-3950

Publisher:: IEEECopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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