Inductor DCR & Copper Loss
Correct copper DCR for winding temperature and estimate resistive loss. Compare two inductors under the same operating conditions.
Calculations run locally. Save is device-only; sharing includes the entered values.
Operating conditions
Units are fixed beside each field: V, A, kHz, µH, mΩ and °C.
Use DC or a nonnegative continuous triangular current. For nonzero ripple, average current must exceed half the peak-to-peak ripple. Pulsed/DCM and reverse-current waveforms require another model.
Calculation results
- Temperature-adjusted DCR
- 26.288 mΩ
- Estimated copper loss
- 0.23837 W
- DCR change
- 31.44 %
- RMS current
- 3.0112 A
Loss versus winding temperature
| Winding temperature (°C) | Inductor A (mΩ) | Inductor A (W) |
|---|---|---|
| -40 | 15.284 | 0.13859 |
| 20 | 20 | 0.18135 |
| 60 | 23.144 | 0.20986 |
| 100 | 26.288 | 0.23837 |
| 150 | 30.218 | 0.274 |
Model & formulas
Copper approximation: α20 = 0.00393 / °C; supported winding/reference temperatures −100 to 200 °C. Temperature is an input, not a predicted rise. I²R excludes core and additional high-frequency winding losses. Both inductors use the same temperature and DCR basis. Typical DCR is not a guaranteed upper bound.
R(T) = R(Tref) × [1 + α20(T−20)] / [1 + α20(Tref−20)]
P = Irms² × R(T)
Irms = √(Iavg² + ΔI²/12)