Ferrite Rods

Russian Ferrite rods 44x4 mm Lot of 500
Paypal

US $99.95

Russian Ferrite rods 51x5mm Lot of 350
Paypal

US $99.95

Ferrite Rods 1 8 diameter x 1 2 long lot of 500
Paypal

US $45.00

Small balun ferrite rods 8x125 mm Lot of 50
Paypal

US $39.00

x16 Large Balun Ferrite Rods 10x200mm
Paypal

US $37.95

Russian M400NN 19 Ferrite rods 160x8 mm Lot of 22
Paypal

US $33.95

Ferrite Rods

Magnetic core

Commonly used structures

Air core

A coil not containing a magnetic core is called an air core coil. This includes coils wound on a plastic or ceramic form in addition to those made of stiff wire that are self-supporting and have air inside them. Air core coils have lower inductance than similarly sized ferromagnetic core coils, but are used in radio frequency circuits to prevent energy losses called core losses that occur in magnetic cores. The absence of core losses permits a higher Q factor, so air core coils are used in high frequency resonant circuits.

Straight cylindrical rod

On the left, a non-adjustable ferrite rod with connection wires glued to the ends. On the right, a molded ferrite rod with holes, with a single wire threaded through the holes.

Most commonly made of ferrite or a similar material, and used in radios especially for tuning an inductor. The rod sits in the middle of the coil and small adjustments of the rod's position will fine tune the inductance. Often the rod is threaded to allow adjustment with a screwdriver. In radio circuits, a blob of wax or resin is used once the inductor has been tuned to prevent the core from moving.

The presence of the high permeability core increases the inductance but the field must still spread into the air at the ends of the rod. The path through the air ensures that the inductor remains linear. In this type of inductor radiation occurs at the end of the rod and electromagnetic interference may be a problem in some circumstances.

Single "I" core

Like a cylindrical rod but square, rarely used on its own.

"C" or "U" core

U and C-shaped cores are used with I or another C or U' core to make a square closed core, the simplest closed core shape. Windings may be put on one or both legs of the core.

a U-shaped core, with sharp corners

the C-shaped core, with rounded corners

"E" core

E-shaped core are more symmetric solutions to form a closed magnetic system. Most of the time, the electric circuit is wound around the center leg, whose section area is twice that of each individual outer leg.

Classical E core

The EFD' core allows for construction of inductors or transformers with a lower profile

The ER core has a cylindrical central leg.

the EP core is halfways between a E and a pot core

"E" and "I" core

Sheets of suitable iron stamped out in shapes like the (sans-serif) letters "E" and "I", are stacked with the "I" against the open end of the "E" to form a 3-legged structure. Coils can be wound around any leg, but usually the center leg is used. This type of core is much used for power transformers, autotransformers, and inductors.

Construction of an inductor using two ER cores, a plastic bobbin and two clips. The bobbin has pins to be soldered to a printed circuit board.

Exploded view of the previous figure showing the structure

Pair of "E" cores

Again used for iron cores. Similar to using an "E" and "I" together, a pair of "E" cores will accommodate a larger coil former and can produce a larger inductor or transformer. If an air gap is required, the centre leg of the "E" is shortened so that the air gap sits in the middle of the coil to minimise fringing and reduce electromagnetic interference.

a pot core of 'RM' type

Pot core

Usually ferrite or similar. This is used for inductors and transformers. The shape of a pot core is round with an internal hollow that almost completely encloses the coil. Usually a pot core is made in two halves which fit together around a coil former (bobbin). This design of core has a shielding effect, preventing radiation and reducing electromagnetic interference.

A toroidal core

Toroidal core

This design is based on a toroid (the same shape as a doughnut). The coil is wound through the hole in the torus and around the outside. An ideal coil is distributed evenly all around the circumference of the torus. The symmetry of this geometry creates a magnetic field of circular loops inside the core, and the lack of sharp bends will constrain virtually all of the field to the core material. This not only makes a highly efficient transformer, but also reduces the electromagnetic interference radiated by the coil.

It is popular for applications where the desirable features are: high specific power per mass and volume, low mains hum, and minimal electromagnetic interference. One such application is the power supply for a hi-fi audio amplifier. The main drawback that limits their use for general purpose applications, is the inherent difficulty of winding wire through the center of a torus.

Unlike a split core (a core made of two elements, like a pair of E cores), specialized machinery is required for automated winding of a toroidal core. Toroids have less audible noise, such as mains hum, because the magnetic forces do not exert bending moment on the core. The core is only in compression or tension, and the circular shape is more stable mechanically.

Ring or bead

A ferrite ring on a computer data cable.

The ring is essentially identical in shape and performance to the toroid, except that inductors commonly pass only through the center of the core, without wrapping around the core multiple times.

The ring core may also be composed of two separate C-shaped hemispheres secured together within a plastic shell, permitting it to be placed on finished cables with large connectors already installed, that would prevent threading the cable through the small inner diameter of a solid ring.

A planar 'E' core

Planar core

A planar core consists of two flat pieces of magnetic material, one above and one below the coil. It is typically used with a flat coil that is part of a printed circuit board. This design is excellent for mass production and allows a high power, small volume transformer to be constructed for low cost. It is not as ideal as either a pot core or toroidal core but costs less to produce.

A planar inductor

Exploded view that shows the spiral track made directly on the printed circuit board

Core loss

In a transformer or inductor, some of the power that would ideally be transferred through the device is lost in the core, resulting in heat. There are various reasons for such losses, the primary ones being:

Hysteresis loss

When the magnetic field through the core changes, the magnetization of the core material changes by expansion and contraction of the tiny magnetic domains it is composed of, due to movement of the domain walls. This is a lossy process, because the domain walls get "snagged" on defects in the crystal structure and then "snap" past them, dissipating energy as heat. This is called hysteresis loss. It can be seen in the graph of the B field versus the H field for the material, which has the form of a closed loop. The amount of energy lost in the material in one cycle of the applied field is proportional to the area inside the hysteresis loop. Hysteresis loss increases with higher frequencies as more cycles are undergone per unit time.

Eddy current loss

The induction of eddy currents within the core causes a resistive loss. The higher the resistance of the core material the lower the loss. Lamination of the core material can reduce eddy current loss, and also making the core of a nonconductive magnetic material like ferrite.

Common magnetic core materials

Having no magnetically active core material (an "air core") provides very low inductance in most situations, so a wide range of high-permeability materials are used to concentrate the field. Most high-permeability material are ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic.

Soft iron

"Soft" iron is used in electromagnets and in some electric motors; and it can create a field as much as 50,000 times more intense than with an air core.

Iron is desirable to make magnetic cores, as it can withstand high levels of magnetic field (up to 2.16 teslas at ambient temperature.)

It is also used because, unlike "hard" iron, it does not remain magnetised when the field is removed, which is often important.

Unfortunately due to the simplicity of its design, a bulk block or rod of soft iron suffers from large eddy currents circulating within it that waste energy and cause undesirable heating of the iron.

Laminated silicon steel

Main article: Silicon steel

Because iron is a relatively good conductor, it cannot be used in bulk form with a rapidly changing field, such as in a transformer, as intense eddy currents would appear due to the magnetic field, resulting in huge losses (this is used in induction heating).

Two techniques are commonly used together to increase the resistivity of iron: lamination and alloying of the iron with silicon

Lamination

Laminated magnetic cores are made of thin, insulated iron sheets. Using this technique, the magnetic core is equivalent to many individual magnetic circuits, each one receiving only a small fraction of the magnetic flux (because their section is a fraction of the whole core section). Furthermore, these circuits have a resistance that is higher than that of a non-laminated core, also because of their reduced section. From this, it can be seen that the thinner the laminations, the lower the eddy currents.

Silicon alloying

A small addition of silicon to Iron (around 3%) results in a dramatic increase of the resistivity, up to four times higher. Further increase in Silicon concentration impairs the steel's mechanical properties, causing difficulties for rolling.

Among the two types of silicon steel, grain-oriented (GO) and grain non-oriented (GNO), GO is most desirable for magnetic cores. It is anisotropic, offering better magnetic properties than GNO in one direction. As the magnetic field in inductor and transformer cores is static (compared to that in electric motors), it is possible to use GO steel in the preferred orientation.

Carbonyl iron

Main article: carbonyl iron

Powdered cores made of carbonyl iron, a highly pure iron, have high stability of parameters across a wide range of temperatures and magnetic flux levels, with excellent Q factors between 50 kHz and 200 MHz. Carbonyl iron powders are basically constituted of micrometer-size spheres of iron coated in a thin layer of electrical insulation. This is equivalent to a microscopic laminated magnetic circuit (see silicon steel, above), hence reducing the eddy currents, particularly at very high frequencies.

A popular application of carbonyl iron-based magnetic cores is in high-frequency and broadband inductors and transformers.

Iron powder

Powdered cores made of hydrogen reduced iron have higher permeability but lower Q. They are used mostly for electromagnetic interference filters and low-frequency chokes, mainly in switched-mode power supplies.

Ferrite

Main article: Ferrite (magnet)

Ferrite ceramics are used for high-frequency applications. The ferrite materials can be engineered with a wide range of parameters.

See also

Balun

Choke (electronics)

Electromagnetic interference

Ferrite (iron)

inductor

transformer

Ferrite (magnet)

Magnetic core memory