PI Expert Power Design Tool from Power Integrations

PI Expert Power Design Tool from Power Integrations

Supports planar transformer design for the first time

In just five minutes, the software automatically generates a planar transformer design with complete electrical specifications and work instructions.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 25, 2022 – Power Integrations, a leader in high-voltage integrated circuits for energy-efficient power conversion, today announced new capabilities for planar transformers in its PI Expert™ software design tool. PI Expert software is a powerful online design tool that automatically generates optimized power supply designs based on user-entered specifications. It currently supports design tools for planar transformers, generating application-specific planar transformer designs — including technical documentation and Gerber files that are ready to be transferred to printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturers. The latest version of PI Expert currently supports planar transformer designs for Power Integrations’ entire InnoSwitch™3 flyback switcher IC product family.

“Planar transformers enable low-profile flyback power supplies,” says Trevor Hiatt, director of channel marketing at Power Integrations. “With our new Planar Transformer Design Tool, designers can create a high-precision, low-profile transformer for their power supply in just minutes. No other design tool can do this today.”

The transformer construction function in PI Expert provides complete planar transformer information, including stacking specifications, vertical and horizontal PCB structures, routing parameters, current density information, and winding layer impedance. The tool can automatically fill in user-specified creepage distances and electrical clearances based on safety isolation standards. Using an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), it can display vertical and horizontal stacking structures and top views of all layers. The tool can also output detailed manufacturing information for planar transformer designs, allowing users to directly enter the manufacturing stage from the design stage.

The tool provides an extensive library of planar magnetic cores and components to simplify design, and also accepts custom core geometries. PI Expert automatically optimizes the planar transformer design to match the customer's power specifications, adding new winding layers and adjusting trace geometries as needed.

PI Expert integrates the professional knowledge in power supply design accumulated by PI over decades and is used by tens of thousands of engineers around the world every year.