Which type of inductor are used in switching regulators

[nikhil arora]

I was having some inductors and i tried to make some switching regulator using those inductors and ic mc34063 but i was not able to draw good current. some body told me that u might be using RF inductor instead of power inductors, Rf inductors get saturate at low current so u are not getting good current.

is it so, then what is power inductor and how they look like (a toriod coils or what)...

 

[Paul Obrien]

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[stevez]

Take a look at Jameco's website and you'll see at least one page of inductors for SMPS. You might be able to get a spec sheet. I think Pulse is one of many manufacturers. You might look at their website and products to see what characteristics are important.

 

[evandude]

power inductors: heavy duty cores, thick wires, and usually pretty large.
As a general rule, if it looks like a resistor or a chip capacitor (fully encased, usually pretty small) then it's probably not a power inductor.

The inductors in this picture are power inductors I used that were rated for about 8 amps or so:
**broken link removed**