Project / Ongoing work
Power Inductor Tester
A bench instrument that pushes current through a power inductor and shows where the core gives up. The case is together; the measurement is still being closed.
- Power electronics
- Lab equipment
- Status
- Ongoing work
- DUT
- INDUCTOR+ / INDUCTOR−
- Outputs
- V · I · TRIG · 1000 Ω
- Modes
- Auto / manual
- Rear
- IEC inlet · fan
At a glance
What it is for
A power inductor is only an inductor until the core saturates. Past that current the inductance collapses, the current runs away, and a converter that looked fine on the datasheet curve starts misbehaving. This tester exists to put a number on that knee, on the bench, with the part you actually have.
The unit is ongoing work in the Prague workshop. The enclosure, mains inlet, cooling and front panel are in place. What is still moving is the measurement itself: ranges, timing and how the result is read out.
Front panel
The inductor under test lands on the red and black binding posts, INDUCTOR+ and INDUCTOR−. A toggle chooses AUTO or MANUAL. R SELECT and IDC SELECT step the sense path and the DC current setting. The large T knob is a precision scale for the test timing, so the pulse stays a pulse.
Three BNC outputs — V, I and TRIG — leave the box at 1000 Ω. A scope can sit on inductor voltage, current and a trigger without becoming part of the circuit.
Power and the case
The rear panel is an IEC inlet and a fan. Saturation tests are short, but the energy in a power inductor is not a suggestion, so the power stage is cooled on purpose. The rear plate is printed; the case is a ribbed instrument enclosure on rubber feet, meant to live on a lab bench rather than in a product.
Treat this page as a snapshot of the instrument while it is still open. It is lab equipment under construction, not a finished product you can order.