CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a U.S. national stage application of the PCT international application No. PCT/JP2019/010445 filed on Mar. 14, 2019, which claims the benefit of foreign priority of Japanese patent application No. 2018-085906 filed on Apr. 27, 2018, the contents all of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an inductor for use in various electronic devices.

BACKGROUND ART

Inductors are widely used in electronic devices, such as DC-DC converters, for the purposes, such as stepping-up and stepping-down of power supply voltage and smoothing of direct current electricity.

DC-DC converters have employed drive circuits operating in higher switching frequencies. As the switching frequency increases, the inductance value of the inductor decreases accordingly.

A known example of an inductor with a low inductance value is an inductor including a core member, a flat plate-shaped conductor extending linearly and provided inside the core member, a terminal electrode provided on an outer surface of the core member and electrically connected to the conductor and also electrically connected to a mounting substrate on which the inductor is mounted. Such an inductor is disclosed in, e.g. PTL 1.

CITATION LIST

Patent Literature

PTL 1: International Publication No. 2006/070544

SUMMARY

An inductor includes a conductor and an exterior member containing magnetic material. The conductor includes a main body embedded in the exterior member, a pair of lead-out parts connected to the main body, and a pair of electrode parts coupled to the main body and disposed outside the exterior member. The main body includes first and second conductive plates. The first conductive plate includes a pair of first end parts connected to the pair of electrode parts, respectively, and a first central part sandwiched between the pair of first end parts in a longitudinal direction. The second conductive plate includes a second central part connected to the first central part at a first connecting location and a pair of second end parts sandwiching the second central part therebetween in the longitudinal direction. The main body is bent at the first connecting location such that the first main surface faces the second main surface away from the second main surface with a space in between. One of the pair of first end parts is joined to one of the pair of second end parts. Another of the pair of first end parts is joined to another of the pair of second end parts.

This inductor reduces its direct current resistance and reduce loss accordingly.

