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LG Innotek announced on the 19th that it has successfully developed a high-efficiency ferrite with the lowest power loss in the world. This development has contributed to LG Innotek’s dominance in the TV and vehicle power markets.

Ferrite is a magnetic material with iron oxide as its primary raw material, and ferrite powder is hardened into a tile shape for industrial use. It is usually installed in TV power modules, vehicle power sources, and chargers (On Board Charge, OBC) to change the voltage or remove unnecessary signals generated by current surges. This provides a stable power supply to display panels for TVs and air conditioners, as well as audio systems for vehicles.

With home appliances and electric vehicles have become increasingly smaller and more functional, high-efficiency ferrite– which is advantageous for ultra-slim and high-efficiency products– is being touted as a next-generation material.

The high-efficiency ferrite developed by LG Innotek has a maximum of 40% less power loss from heat compared to general ferrite. In addition, its low-loss characteristics are maintained at temperatures of -40℃ to 140℃, giving it the advantage of realising perfect quality in high-temperature TV interiors and various driving environments.

• Ultra-slim TV and lightweight vehicles with improved energy efficiency

LG Innotek’s high-efficiency ferrite is advantageous in making ultra-slim TVs and reducing the weight of vehicles to increase fuel efficiency for electric and hydrogen vehicles.

Using this material allows a 60% reduction in TV thickness by making the TV power module only 9.9mm, the thinnest in the world. The normal thickness of a 65-inch ultra-slim OLED TV equipped with a general power module is about 46.9mm. When a high-efficiency ferrite power module is applied, the thickness can be reduced to 20mm or less. This is because the number of components for securing the required power is reduced by 1/3 due to low power loss.

In addition, high-efficiency ferrite can increase the energy efficiency of TV power modules up to 5%points. As the energy efficiency of a component increases, heat generation is reduced and the damage caused by heat minimised, thereby extending the life of the component.

The volume and weight of the converter can be reduced by 10% compared to the previous model, and the energy efficiency of the converter can be increased up to 1.2%points when this product is applied to a vehicle DC-DC converter.

It also helps reduce the risk of fire due to the overheating of vehicle power. The low heat generation of high-efficiency ferrite can lower the temperature of components by up to 20℃ compared to previous models.

• Reduced development period to 1/4 of projected time, achieving world-class performance

In the field of ferrite, Japanese companies have dominated the market with the No. 1 technology in the world. However, Japanese products have been expensive and difficult to supply.

In response to this, LG Innotek became fully engaged in the development of high-efficiency ferrite starting in 2018. Since LG Innotek decided it would be difficult to close the gap with Japanese products using existing development methods, LG Innotek has applied simulation techniques such as digital transformation (DX) and artificial intelligence (AI) methods to design materials for the first time in the industry.

While enhancing the accuracy of results, LG Innotek automates the process of finding the best-performing material composition ratio with supercomputers, greatly reducing the time and frequency of experiments. In the past, researchers conducted thousands of direct experiments to find the optimal ratio, which took a long time and was susceptible to user errors.

LG Innotek has successfully shortened their development period from a projected four years to only one year and four months by making active investments in employing the latest software, technical advices, and industry-university cooperation.

• Internalisation of core materials to provide differentiated customer value

LG Innotek’s strategy is to strengthen its competitiveness by expanding the application of high-efficiency ferrite, a core material for its products.

In addition, LG Innotek is actively pushing ahead with promotional activities for global electronic companies and automakers with the aim of mass production of materials in the first half of next year. Also, to solidify its position as the No. 1 technology company in the field of high-efficiency ferrite, LG Innotek is spurring the advanced development of materials with improved performance based on approximately 120 related patents.

“It is a significant achievement that LG Innotek’s unique method of internalising core materials in a short time has enabled us to provide a stable product supply with the best performance and quality to customers,” said Bae Seok, a research fellow of Magnetic Components Task in LG Innotek’s CTO Division. “We will continue to provide differentiated value to our customers by utilising magnetic materials,” he continued.

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