How does Magnetics Designer handle a transformer that operates in a burst mode of operation?
Magnetics Designer assumes that the temperature is constant during circuit operation. It makes this assumption in order to be able to calculate the temperature rise of the core and copper. Magnetics Designer requires that you enter the average voltage, DC and AC RMS currents for each winding. The formulas for calculating these quantities for different wave shapes are available in the on-line help. They will work well and generate the proper current specifications so long as the temperature remains constant. However, when the duty cycle becomes very small the temperature may actually vary over each period. In cases where the temperature varies, the current specifications using a small duty cycle will yield the proper copper losses but not the proper core losses. Changing the average voltage specification should not be done as this will result in an incorrect calculation of flux density and output voltage. Therefore, you should enter electrical specifications that are applicable when the
