First, we examine differential interference. With differential interference, what occurs through the device is that for any signal transmission from the line side, there should be an equal return on the neutral side. Whatever is crossing from your line (or the topside) back through the neutral (bottom side), should be cross-canceling. What is happening is that you're not going to get any unwanted noise in a differential mode if there is equal signal cancellation. When these types of transmissions are not balanced and cancelling, there will be the occurrence of differential noise.

In a common mode noise situation, there is noise coming in simultaneously from both input sides (line and neutral) and exiting simultaneously, but is also coupling back to earth ground. What you want to do is capture the unwanted noise and keep it from being transmitted and coupling back to earth ground. To do this, both the line and the neutral signal currents should be captured and burned off as heat through a common device such as a magnetic core. A common mode choke is where both line and neutral windings are wound on a single core.

When using a current compensated choke to decrease common mode noise, (the interference pattern or the unwanted noise) you want to have a high impedance at the unwanted frequencies to knock down that unwanted noise. On this particular slide, the blue line is a common mode suppression. The dashed red line on the bottom is differential mode suppression. Even though it's a common mode choke, it does have some differential mode suppression as well at various frequency levels. You see a black bar that's drawn there as well. That's a transmission frequency for example.

Consider the scenario where you are transmitting a wanted data carrier, also known as “a signal” at some frequency. Now, if there is also noise around this frequency, you want to eliminate the noise (unwanted frequencies), but not distort the signal. Usually, the noise would be common mode noise, so the solution to lower (if not eliminate) the unwanted noise frequencies is to use a common mode choke that will have a high impedance at the unwanted frequencies only. With the proper common mode choke, this reduces the noise, but does not affect the required signal.

Sometimes you want common mode impedance, but very little differential mode impedance. Look at comparisons for various parts between common mode chokes. There is a considerable difference between a single choke used for differential mode suppression, and a current compensated (or common mode choke) used for common mode suppression. The main difference between the two parts is that in the common mode choke, there are two windings or multiple windings, meaning you can have a three line winding, or more. You can have four line carriers as well, but all the windings are on a common core.

On a common mode choke, the core material keeps the windings coupled together. By contrast, the single choke or single winding inductors have just the one winding on the one core. This is a chart showing the difference of common mode impedance. Obviously, a common mode choke would have common mode impedances to suppress unwanted common mode noise. For a communication or signal application, it would be beneficial to have very low differential noise suppression on the common mode choke Even though we're talking about common mode chokes, every common mode choke will also have some differential mode impedance as well. It is important that the differential suppression is not at the transmitted signal frequency, so as not to distort the signal.

Transformer Construction

AA simple two-winding transformer construction consists of each winding being wound on a separate soft iron limb or core which provides the necessary magnetic circuit.

This magnetic circuit, know more commonly as the “transformer core” is designed to provide a path for the magnetic field to flow around, which is necessary for induction of the voltage between the two windings.

However, this type of transformer construction where the two windings are wound on separate limbs is not very efficient since the primary and secondary windings are well separated from each other. This results in a low magnetic coupling between the two windings as well as large amounts of magnetic flux leakage from the transformer itself. But as well as this “O” shapes construction, there are different types of “transformer construction” and designs available which are used to overcome these inefficiencies producing a smaller more compact transformer.

The efficiency of a simple transformer construction can be improved by bringing the two windings within close contact with each other thereby improving the magnetic coupling. Increasing and concentrating the magnetic circuit around the coils may improve the magnetic coupling between the two windings, but it also has the effect of increasing the magnetic losses of the transformer core.

As well as providing a low reluctance path for the magnetic field, the core is designed to prevent circulating electric currents within the iron core itself. Circulating currents, called “eddy currents”, cause heating and energy losses within the core decreasing the transformer’s efficiency.

These losses are due mainly to voltages induced in the iron circuit, which is constantly being subjected to the alternating magnetic fields setup by the external sinusoidal supply voltage. One way to reduce these unwanted power losses is to construct the transformer core from thin steel laminations.

In most types of transformer construction, the central iron core is constructed from of a highly permeable material commonly made from thin silicon steel laminations. These thin laminations are assembled together to provide the required magnetic path with the minimum of magnetic losses. The resistivity of the steel sheet itself is high, thus reducing any eddy current loss by making the laminations very thin.

These steel transformer laminations vary in thickness’s from between 0.25mm to 0.5mm and as steel is a conductor, the laminations and any fixing studs, rivets or bolts are electrically insulated from each other by a very thin coating of insulating varnish or by the use of an oxide layer on the surface.

Transformer Construction of the Core

Generally, the name associated with the construction of a transformer is dependent upon how the primary and secondary windings are wound around the central laminated steel core. The two most common and basic designs of transformer construction are the Closed-core Transformer and the Shell-core Transformer.

In the “closed-core” type (core form) transformer, the primary and secondary windings are wound outside and surround the core ring. In the “shell type” (shell form) transformer, the primary and secondary windings pass inside the steel magnetic circuit (core) which forms a shell around the windings as shown below.

n both types of transformer core design, the magnetic flux linking the primary and secondary windings travels entirely within the core with no loss of magnetic flux through air. In the core type transformer construction, one half of the winding is wrapped around each leg (or limb) of the transformer’s magnetic circuit as shown above.

The coils are not arranged with the primary winding on one leg and the secondary on the other but instead half of the primary winding and half of the secondary winding are placed one over the other concentrically on each leg in order to increase magnetic coupling allowing practically all of the magnetic lines of force go through both the primary and secondary windings at the same time. However, with this type of transformer construction, a small percentage of the magnetic lines of force flow outside of the core, and this is called “leakage flux”.

Shell type transformer core’s overcome this leakage flux as both the primary and secondary windings are wound on the same centre leg or limb which has twice the cross-sectional area of the two outer limbs. The advantage here is that the magnetic flux has two closed magnetic paths to flow around external to the coils on both left and right hand sides before returning back to the central coils.

This means that the magnetic flux circulating around the outer limbs of this type of transformer construction is equal to Φ/2. As the magnetic flux has a closed path around the coils, this has the advantage of decreasing core losses and increasing overall efficiency.

Amorphous Cores

Amorphous Alloys are metallic glass materials without a crystalline structure. Amorphous-Alloy Cores provide better electrical conductivity, higher permeability and magnetic density, and efficient operation over a wider temperature range than cores made from conventional materials. Smaller, lighter, and more energy-efficient designs are possible for transformers, inductors, invertors, motors, and any device requiring high frequency, low loss performance.

Advantages of using amorphous cores: