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Advances in very large scale integration (VLSI) technologies impose challenges for voltage regulator modules (VRM) to deliver high-quality power to modern microprocessors. As an enabling technology, multiphase converters have become the standard practice in VRM industry. The primary objectives of this dissertation are to develop advanced topologies and innovative integrated magnetics for high-efficiency, high-power-density and fast-transient VRMs. The optimization of multiphase VRMs has also been addressed. Today's multiphase VRMs are almost universally based on the buck topology. With increased input voltage and decreased output voltage, the multiphase buck converter suffers from a very small duty cycle and cannot achieve a desirable efficiency. The multiphase tapped-inductor buck converter is one of the simplest topologies with a decent duty cycle. However, the leakage inductance of its tapped inductors causes a severe voltage spike problem. An improved topology, named the multiphase coupled-buck converter, is proposed. This innovative topology enables the use of a larger duty cycle with clamped device voltage and recovered leakage energy. Under the same transient responses, the multiphase coupled-buck converter has a significantly better efficiency than the multiphase buck converter. By integrating all the magnetic components into a single core, in which the windings are wound around the center leg and the air gaps are placed on the two outer legs, it is possible for multiphase VRMs to further improve efficiency and cut the size and cost. Unfortunately, this structure suffers from an undesirable core structure and huge leakage inductance. An improved integrated magnetic structure is proposed to overcome these limitations. All the windings are wound around the two outer legs and the air gap is placed on the center leg. The improved structure also features the flux ripple cancellation in the center leg and strongly reverse-coupled inductors. Both core loss and winding loss are reduced. The steady-state current ripples can be reduced without compromising the transient responses. The overall efficiency of the converter is improved. The input inductor can also be integrated in the improved integrated magnetic structure. Currently, selecting the appropriate number of channels for multiphase VRMs is still an empirical trial-and-error process. This dissertation proposes a methodology for determining the right number of channels for the optimal multiphase design. The problem formulation and general method for the optimization are proposed. Two examples are performed step by step to demonstrate the proposed optimization methodology. Both are focused on typical VRM 9.0 designs for the latest Pentium 4® microprocessors and their results are compared with the industry practice. / Ph. D.

Design of magnetic component is a key factor in achieving high frequency, high power-density converters. Planar magnetics are widely used in bias power supplies for the benefits of low profile and their compatibility with printed-circuit boards (PCB). The coupled inductors with winding layers sandwiched between two core plates are studied in this dissertation in order to model the self-inductance, winding loss, and core loss. The most challenging task for the plate-core inductor is to model the magnetic field with finite core dimensions, very non-uniform flux pattern, and large fringing flux. The winding is placed near the edge of the core to maximize the energy within the limited footprint and the amount of energy stored outside the core volume is not negligible. The proportional-reluctance, equal-flux (PREF) model is developed to build the contours with equal amount of flux by governing the reluctance of the flux path. The shapes of the flux lines are modeled by different functions that guided by the finite-element simulation (FES). The field from the flux lines enables calculation of inductance, winding loss, and core loss, etc. The inductance matrix including self-inductance and mutual inductance of a coupled inductor is important for circuit simulation and evaluation. The derivation of the inductance matrix of inductors with plate-core structure is described in Chapter 2. Two conditions are defined as common-mode (CM) field and differential-mode (DM) field in order to compute the matrix parameters. The proportional-reluctance, equal-flux (PREF) model introduced is employed to find the CM field distribution, and the DM field distribution is found from functions analogous to that of a solenoid's field. The inductance calculated are verified by flex-circuit prototypes with various dimensions, and the application of the inductance model is presented at the last with normalized parameters to cover structures within a wide-range. In circuit where coupled inductors are used instead of transformers, the phase shift between the primary and secondary side is not always 180 degrees. Therefore, it is important to model the winding loss for a coupled inductor accurately. The winding loss can be calculated from the resistance matrix, which is independent of excitations but only relates to the frequency and geometry. The methodology to derive the resistance matrix from winding losses of coupled inductors is discussed. Winding loss model with 2D magnetic field is improved by including the additional eddy current loss for better accuracy for the plate-core structures. The resistance matrix calculated from the model is verified by both measurement results and finite-element simulation (FES) of coupled-inductor prototypes. Accurate core loss model is required for designing magnetic components in power converters. Most existing core loss models are based on frequency domain calculation and they cannot be implemented in SPICE simulations. The core loss model in the time domain is discussed in Chapter 5 for arbitrary current excitations. An effective ac flux density is derived to simplify the core loss calculation with non-uniform field distribution. A sub-circuit for core loss simulation is established in LTSPICE that is capable of being integrated to the power stage simulation. Transient behavior and accurate simulation results from the LTSPICE matches very well with the FES results. An equivalent circuit for coupled windings is developed for inductors with significant fringing effect. The equivalent circuit is derived from a physical model that captures the flux paths by having a leakage inductor and two mutual inductors on the primary and secondary side. A mutual resistor is added to each side in parallel with one mutual inductor to model the winding loss with open circuit and phase-shift impact. Two time-varying resistors are employed to represent the core loss in the time-domain. The equivalent circuit is verified by both finite-element simulation (FES) and prototypes fabricated with flexible circuit. / Ph. D.

O presente trabalho apresenta uma nova metodologia multidisciplinar que é capaz de estimar a idade de uma rocha-fonte a partir de sua anomalia magnética apenas, usando dados magnetométricos aéreos ou terrestres. Parte-se de anomalias magnéticas preferencialmente isoladas, e cuja componente remanescente seja provável em função do formato da anomalia. A partir dela calculamos a direção total da magnetização e estudamos as possíveis razões entre as componentes induzidas e remanescentes. Posteriormente, determinamos o segmento de reta que congrega todas os paleopólos virtuais possíveis, e finalmente relacionamos esse segmento de reta à curva de Deriva Polar Aparente da placa tectônica na qual a anomalia está hospedada. Aplicamos diversos testes de consistência na metodologia criada, usando exemplos sintéticos e reais, nas placas Sulamericana e Australiana. Finalmente, aplicamos a metodologia em cinco (5) conhecidas anomalias do território brasileiro, produzidas por complexos alcalinos de idade Mesozóica. As idades aparentes obtidas através da metodologia criada em três das anomalias cujas idades radiométricas são bem conhecidas Tapira, Araxá e Juquiá são similares às idades publicadas. As idades aparentes obtidas através das outras duas anomalias cuja idade radiométrica é desconhecida Registro e Pariqueraçu foram coerentes relativamente ao contexto geológico. Espera-se que a aplicação da metodologia ora criada possa contribuir para o conhecimento geológico das rochas fontes de anomalias magnéticas da Crosta Continental, especialmente nos casos em que as rochas sejam desconhecidas, cobertas por sedimentos ou não adequadamente amostradas. / The present work is a new multi-disciplinary methodology that estimates the age of a source rock from its magnetic anomaly only, taken directly from the airborne or ground magnetic data. The idea is to use those anomalies in which a strong remanent magnetic component is likely to occur, calculate from the magnetic anomaly the total magnetization and study the possible ratios between induced and remanence. Next, the line segment linking all virtual paleogeographic poles of this anomaly will be built, and finally this segment will be related with the position, on a paleogeographic projection, of the appropriate age fragment of the APWP curve. We ran several applications to test the efficiency of the methodology, both using synthetic and real examples. Tests were performed in two different tectonic plates, South American and Australian. Finally, we applied this procedure on five (5) well known magnetic anomalies of the South American plate, produced by alkaline complexes of Mesozoic age. The apparent ages obtained from the methodology application on three of the anomalies, where the radiometric age of the source rock is known Tapira, Araxá and Juquiá were reasonably close to the published ages. The apparent ages of the other two, obtained from anomalies in which the age of the source rock is not known Registro and Pariqueraçu magnetic anomalies were coherent relative to the geologic context. We expect that the application of the the developed methodology as a reconnaissance geochronological tool may contribute to geological knowledge over continental areas, especially when the source rocks of the magnetic anomalies are unknown or buried below superficial sediments.

O presente trabalho apresenta uma nova metodologia multidisciplinar que é capaz de estimar a idade de uma rocha-fonte a partir de sua anomalia magnética apenas, usando dados magnetométricos aéreos ou terrestres. Parte-se de anomalias magnéticas preferencialmente isoladas, e cuja componente remanescente seja provável em função do formato da anomalia. A partir dela calculamos a direção total da magnetização e estudamos as possíveis razões entre as componentes induzidas e remanescentes. Posteriormente, determinamos o segmento de reta que congrega todas os paleopólos virtuais possíveis, e finalmente relacionamos esse segmento de reta à curva de Deriva Polar Aparente da placa tectônica na qual a anomalia está hospedada. Aplicamos diversos testes de consistência na metodologia criada, usando exemplos sintéticos e reais, nas placas Sulamericana e Australiana. Finalmente, aplicamos a metodologia em cinco (5) conhecidas anomalias do território brasileiro, produzidas por complexos alcalinos de idade Mesozóica. As idades aparentes obtidas através da metodologia criada em três das anomalias cujas idades radiométricas são bem conhecidas Tapira, Araxá e Juquiá são similares às idades publicadas. As idades aparentes obtidas através das outras duas anomalias cuja idade radiométrica é desconhecida Registro e Pariqueraçu foram coerentes relativamente ao contexto geológico. Espera-se que a aplicação da metodologia ora criada possa contribuir para o conhecimento geológico das rochas fontes de anomalias magnéticas da Crosta Continental, especialmente nos casos em que as rochas sejam desconhecidas, cobertas por sedimentos ou não adequadamente amostradas. / The present work is a new multi-disciplinary methodology that estimates the age of a source rock from its magnetic anomaly only, taken directly from the airborne or ground magnetic data. The idea is to use those anomalies in which a strong remanent magnetic component is likely to occur, calculate from the magnetic anomaly the total magnetization and study the possible ratios between induced and remanence. Next, the line segment linking all virtual paleogeographic poles of this anomaly will be built, and finally this segment will be related with the position, on a paleogeographic projection, of the appropriate age fragment of the APWP curve. We ran several applications to test the efficiency of the methodology, both using synthetic and real examples. Tests were performed in two different tectonic plates, South American and Australian. Finally, we applied this procedure on five (5) well known magnetic anomalies of the South American plate, produced by alkaline complexes of Mesozoic age. The apparent ages obtained from the methodology application on three of the anomalies, where the radiometric age of the source rock is known Tapira, Araxá and Juquiá were reasonably close to the published ages. The apparent ages of the other two, obtained from anomalies in which the age of the source rock is not known Registro and Pariqueraçu magnetic anomalies were coherent relative to the geologic context. We expect that the application of the the developed methodology as a reconnaissance geochronological tool may contribute to geological knowledge over continental areas, especially when the source rocks of the magnetic anomalies are unknown or buried below superficial sediments.

With the increasing demand for small and cost efficient DC/DC converters, the power converters are expected to operate with high efficiency. Magnetics components design is one of the biggest challenges in achieving the higher power density and higher efficiency due to the significant portion of magnetics components volume in the whole power system. At the same time, most of the experimental phenomena are related to the magnetics components. So, good magnetics components design is one of the key issues to implement low voltage high current DC/DC converter. Planar technology has many advantages. It has low profile construction, low leakage inductance and inter-winding capacitance, excellent repeatability of parasitic properties, cost efficiency, great reliability, and excellent thermal characteristics. On the other side, however, planar technology also has some disadvantages. Although it improves thermal performance, the planar format increases footprint area. The fact that windings can be placed closer in planar technology to reduce leakage inductance also often has an unwanted effect of increasing parasitic capacitances. In this dissertation, the planar magnetics designs for high current low voltage applications are thoroughly investigated and one CAD design methodology based on FEA numerical analysis is proposed. Because the frequency dependant parasitic parameters of magnetics components are included in the circuit model, the whole circuit analysis is more accurate. When it is implemented correctly, integrated magnetics technique can produce a significant reduction in the magnetic core content number and it can also result in cost efficient designs with less weight and smaller volume. These will increase the whole converter's power density and power efficiency. For high output current and low output voltage applications, half bridge in primary and current doublers in secondary are proved to be a very good solution. Based on this topology, four different integrated magnetics structures are analyzed and compared with each other. One unified model is introduced and implemented in the circuit analysis. A new integrated magnetics component core shape is proposed. All simulation and experimental results verify the integrated magnetics design. There are several new magnetics components applications shown in the dissertation. Active transient voltage compensator is a good solution to the challenging high slew rate load current transient requirement of VRM. The transformer works as an extra voltage source. During the transient periods, the transformer injects or absorbs the extra transient to or from the circuit. A peak current mode controlled integrated magnetics structure is proposed in the dissertation. Two transformers and two inductors are integrated in one core. It can force the two input capacitors of half bridge topology to have the same voltage potential and solve the voltage unbalance issue. The proposed integrated magnetics structure is simple compared with other methods implementing the current mode control to half bridge topology. Circuit analysis, simulation and experimental results verify the feasibility of these applications.

The Earth’s magnetic field is generated by fluid motion of liquid iron in the outer core. Flows at the top of the outer core are believed to be responsible for the secular variation (SV) observed at the surface of the Earth. Modelling of this flow is open to considerable ambiguity, though methods adopting different physical assumptions do lead to similar flow velocity regimes. Some aspects of the ambiguities are investigated in this thesis. The last decade has seen a significant improvement in the capability to observe the global field at high spatial resolution. Several satellite missions have been launched, providing a rich new set of scalar and vector magnetic measurements from which to model the global field in detail. These data complement the existing record of groundbased observatories, which have continuous temporal coverage at a single point. I exploit these new data to model the secular variation (SV) globally and attempt to improve the core flow models that have been constructed to date. Using the approach developed by Mandea and Olsen (2006) I create a set of evenly distributed ‘Virtual Observatories’ (VO), at 400km above the Earth’s surface, encompassing satellite measurements from the CHAMP satellite over seven years (2001-2007), inverting the SV calculated at each VO to infer flow along the core-mantle boundary. Direct comparison of the SV generated by the flow model to the SV at individual VO can be made. Thus, the residual differences can be investigated in detail. Comparisons of residuals from flow models generated from a number of VO datasets provide evidence that they are consistent with internal and external field effects in the satellite data. I also show that the binning and processing of the VO data can induce artefacts, including sectorial banding, into the residuals. By employing the core flows from the inversion of SV data it may be possible to forecast the change of the present magnetic field (as measured) forwards in time for a short time period (e.g. less than five years) within an acceptable error budget. Using simple advection of steady or non-steady flows to forecast magnetic field change gives reasonably good fit to field models such as GRIMM, POMME or xCHAOS (< 50nT root mean square difference after five years). The forecast of the magnetic field change can be improved by optimally assimilating measurements of the field into the forecast from flow models at discrete points in time (e.g. annually). To achieve this, an Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) can be used to the capture non-linearity of the model and delineate the error bounds by means of a Monte Carlo representation of the field evolution over time. In the EnKF model, an ensemble of probable state vectors (Gauss coefficients) evolve over time, driven by SV derived from core flows. The SV is randomly perturbed at each step before addition to the state vectors. The mean of the ensemble is chosen as the most likely state (i.e. field model) and the error associated with the estimate can be gauged from the standard deviation from the mean. I show an implementation of the EnKF for steady and non-steady flows generated from ‘Virtual Observatory’ field models, compared to the field models GRIMM and xCHAOS over the period 2002–2008. Using the EnKF, the maximum difference never exceeds 25nT over the period. This promising approach allows measurements to be included into model predictions to improve the forecast.

Neste estudo é apresentado um procedimento de análise de dados magnéticos em casos de presença de magnetização remanente para, ao final do processo, a realização de uma inversão mais rápida e fiel ao comportamento do alvo em sub-superfície. O procedimento é composto por seis passos: (1) Delimitação lateral do alvo; (2) Estimativa de suas profundidades; (3) Estimativa das direções de inclinação e declinação aparentes de seu vetor de magnetização total; (4) Modelagem inicial com inferência de valores de susceptibilidades oriundos de estudos geológicos anteriores sobre o alvo e/ou sua região; (5) Inversão dos dados magnéticos utilizando o modelo inicial; e (6) atribuição das características magnéticas do passo (3) sobre o modelo de contraste de susceptibilidade magnética obtido com a inversão para a modelagem final do alvo, conhecendo-se seus vetores de magnetização induzida, total e, por subtração vetorial de ambos, remanente. Este procedimento foi aplicado a 108 casos sintéticos e a 8 casos reais pertencentes às províncias ígneas do Alto do Paranaíba e Rondoniana-San-Ignácio. Os resultados do uso deste procedimento indicaram uma recuperação das direções das componentes de magnetização com erro menor que 10%, em casos sintéticos, uma redução de mais de 20% no tempo de inversão com o uso de modelos iniciais, e qualitativamente, apresentaram modelos mais próximos dos originais (nos casos sintéticos) e geologicamente factíveis nos casos reais. / In this study, we present a procedure of analysis of magnetic data when remanence is present in order to, at the end of the process, obtain an inversion faster and more reliable inversion. The procedure is composed of six steps: (1) Estimation of the borders of the target; (2) Estimation of its depths; (3) A sweeping for the total apparent inclination and declination directions; (4) Initial modeling of a synthetic body, based on the recovered geometry and depth, on the directions of inclination and declination of the total magnetic field, and on previous analysis of the target and/or its region; (5) Inversion of magnetic data using the initial model; and (6) Attribution of the magnetic features of step (3) to the model recovered by the inversion for a final modeling of the target, estimating as well its remanent magnetization; the last through the vectorial resultant of the induction and total magnetization subtraction. This procedure was applied to 108 synthetic and to 8 real cases from the Alto do Paranaíba and Rondonian-San Ignacio Igneous Provinces. Their results pointed out that the error between the recovered directions of the magnetization components and the original values, in synthetic cases, was smaller than 10%; The inversions had their processing-time reduced in more than 20% and, qualitatively, presented models were more similar to the original (synthetic cases) and geologically feasible (real cases).

In the second part, after performing in-vitro experiments to measure the resistant force of the small intestine, we propose a magnetic actuation method. The magnetic marker for localization acts as a seed to be actuated by multiple coils placed outside of the human body. The basic idea is that the magnetic seed is subject to a force and a torque in a magnetic field. An efficient computation scheme is designed and implemented to calculate the coil currents for real-time actuation. Simulations are performed on a six-coil actuation system to evaluate the method. As an alternative method, an internal actuator, which consists of a magnetic spring and can propel itself forward under an alternating current, is introduced to increase the mobility of the capsule and decrease the demand for a strong external field. The external magnetic field is also simulated to orient the internal actuator. / The development of wireless capsule endoscope realizes the examination of the whole gastrointestinal tract. The technology reduces patients' pain and benefits the doctors as well. However, it loses some functions that conventional endoscope owns because of the passive locomotion mode. To improve the situation, an active capsule endoscope is preferred by the community. / We put emphasis on two important problems in design of an active capsule endoscope: localization and actuation. The first part of our work focuses on the study of localization of the capsule taking advantage of the magnetic field. A small permanent magnet is enclosed in the capsule as a marker, and a tracking method is proposed based on the modelling of the marker as an ideal dipole. The five localization parameters are computed by minimizing the differences between the theoretical field values and sensing signals using Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. One-axis Hall sensors and three-axis magnetoresistive sensors are employed respectively to implement the localization method. The system performance is evaluated by a series of tracking experiments. / Wang Xiaona. / "September 2006." / Adviser: Max Meng. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-03, Section: B, page: 1771. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-171). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.