March 1995 THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE S.A.
INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS 45
A 12 kWI 250 kHz SERIES RESONANT CONVERTER FOR INDUCTION BEATING
E.J.DEDE<1.z>, V.ESTEVE<1.z>, J. V.GONZALEz<1>, J.GARCIA<1>
E.MASET<2>, D.RAMIREZ <2>
(l) G.H. ELIN INTERNATIONALS.A. (2) UNIVERSilY OF VALENCIA
E-46080 Valencia (Spain) E-46100 Burjassot (Spain)
Abstract. The present paper describes the conception
and design of a 12 kW/ 250 KHz series resonant
converter for induction heating applications. The s1
I s4
developed generator works above resonance in a
continuous conduction mode in order to avoid the c R L
problem associated with the reverse recovery current
of the MOSFETS's antiparallel diodes.Both short
circuit protection of the inverter and the real output
vd
k=r-
resonant circuit are described. S2 s3
Introduction
Figure 1: Simplified circuit ofdeveloped generator.
Up to now two different technologies were used
L represent the heating coil, C the compensation
in induction heating generators: Electronic tube and
capacitor and R, the equivalent resistor associated with
thyristor technology.The first one was used for high
the heating process.S 1 to S4 represent transistorized
frequency applications, like tube welding and heat
current bidirectional and voltage unidirectional switches.
treatment, while the second one was used in those
applications that required frequencies up to 10
The equivalent circuit of figure 1 is show in
KHz.With the advent of power transistor's, SCR's and
figure 2.
electronics tubes have been substituted by them in many
applications (l).The converters for high power are
usually parallel resonant current fed inverters.The power
range for this type of transistorized generators goes up Ud
to 600 KW and the frequency range up to 200 -Ud
KHz.Depending on the frequency ranges different
technologies . have been used in the inverter Y(iw)
implementation: BJT's, IGBT's and MOSFET's.(2),(3). L·w0 1 ~ 1
This type of generators covers most applications; Q = -R-
o
= R C w0 = · C ' Go = R
r;--;:;L
o· ·Wo "L·L. 0
nevertheless, for low power levels, the price is high due
to the complexity of the logic control, need of a Figure 2: Equivalent circuit of the series resonant
smoothing choke, power regulation with a chopper or a converter.
fully controlled rectifier etc.
It is easily shown that the RMS value of the
The generator described hereafter, where the first harmonic of the output voltage, UMF, is given by:
heating coil its compensated with a capacitor in series, 4 ·Ud
UMF =-;:: and the RMS value of the first harmonic
has been designed in order to minimize cost for low 1t ·"1/2
power level applications. UMF
of the output current by IMF=--· coscp. Consequently,
Ro
Series Resonant Inverter Description the output power of the converter is:
UMF2 2
The simplified structure of the developed series P 0 = UMF·IMF ·coscp =Ro ·cos <p
resonant converter can be seen in figure 1. It can also be easily shown that the voltage
across the resonant capacitor, Vq, and inductor, VL,
Submitted August 1993 when Q>>l , are: Vq = VL = Q · UMF·cosq> .
Accepted December 1993
46 THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE S.A. INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS March 1995
According to the former results, the output reverse recovery current in diodes. In this case
power can be controlled by varying the frequency of the switching-aid networks must be tum-on switching-aid
inverter. Power regulation can be achieved with f>f0 networks.
(<j>>O) and f<fo (cj><O) .The inverter waveform for both
cases can be see in figure 3. As explained above, for avoiding problems of
reverse recovery current in diodes when working at high
f<fo (cj><O phase lag). frequencies, we have chosen the inverter working with
cj>>o (f>fo).
Short Circuit Protection
S2,S4
In the simplified circuit of figure 1 if a short
circuit of the heating coil occurs, large overcurrent
amounts will flow through the switches due
confrontation of the voltage supply Ud and the capacitor
C. The first method to protect the inverter against
shortcircuit is to add an inductor L 1 in series with the
resonant circuit in order to slow the rate of current.
Evidently the simplest way to achieve
shortcircuit protection is by designing Ll>>L.In this
case an inductive divider is formed and all the output
I
I
I DI I I D2 I
S2,S4 ~~: Sl,S3 t D3 I
S2,S4 I D4 I voltage remains in larger coil (L 1), and therefore there is
no output power being sent to the load.
f>fo (cj>>O phase lead)
Sl,S3 I The coil L 1has to be designed so that in case of
a shortcircuit of the heating coil, the maximum peak
S2,S4: current through the switches does not exceed their
maximum ratings.On the other hand,in order to
discharge very quickly the energy stored in the resonant
capacitor, it is advisable to connect a discharge circuit
in parallel with the resonant circuit as shown in figure 4.
Figure 3: Inverter theoretical waveforms.
For cj> >O (f>fo), the commutation process is
driven by the transistors switching off. It has to be taken
into account that in this case there are no losses when
transistors go to conduction, because the current is
transferred from the free-wheel diode to the transistor,
without any problems of reverse recovery current in the
d!odes . In this case switching-aid networks must be
tum-off switching-aid networks . For cj><O (f<f0 ) the
commutation process is driven by the on switching of
the transistors. Current switches from an even (odd)
diode to an odd (even) transistor. Losses are produced Figure 4: Series Resonant converter with shortcircuit
when transistor switch on and lead to problems of protection.
March 1995 THE TRANSACTIONS OF TH E S.A. INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL ENGIN EERS 47
Output Circuit Emerimental Results
Figure 7 shows the output current and voltage.
In real applications, the resonant circuit differs
from the simplified circuit shown in figure I .In order to
not use high voltage capacitors and to deliver to the
heating coil the current needed, the optimum real output
circuit is shown in figure 5.
SERIES
INVERTER
(fB=lus/div, R2A: 20.A/div, R2B: 200V/div)
Figure 7. Experimental waveformes.
Figure 8 shows the generator efficiency.
Figure 5: Real series resonant output circuit. ? (ll)
In most applications the protection coil LI is the
...
100
leakage inductance of transformer T 1.
70 /
IO
,/'
Inverter Control I{'
.
"" I
i
The block diagram of the control circuit for the 30
inverter is shown in figure 6 The basic circuit consists in a 20
VCO oscillator contr9lled by comparing the nominal and 10
actual value of the output current. There is a limitation in 7 I 1 10 11 12 1J 14 1' P (KW
such a way the frequency cannot go under a given value so Figure 8. Generator efficiency.
that at each moment the inverter is working with f>fo.
-- -
-- -- -
'IOCCll
Figure 6: Inverter control diagram.
48 THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE S.A. INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS March I995
The generator power factor is higher than 0.99 for Figure 9: Block diagram of the developed series
every power. Figure 9 shows the block diagram of the resonant converter for induction heating.
develo ed enerator. The inverter switches are 800 V, 36 A half
bridge switches.In the 12 KW unit each leg is
implemented by connecting two units in parallel.The
maximum peak output current is 50 A, and the
efficiency of the converter is 86% at maximum load and
frequency.
Photo 1 shows the practical implementation of
the generator which features a digital control unit that
informs the user on the status of the generator.
Bibliography
[1).- E.J.Dede, V.Esteve, J.V.Gonzalez, J.Jordan, J.Linares."
Transistors are Replacing Electronics Tubes and Thyristors
in Induction Heating Generators". Elektrowarmem
International (April, 1992).
(2).-E.J.Dede, J.V. Gonzalez, J.A.Linares, J.Jordan,
D.Ramirez, P.Rueda." 25KW/50KHz Generator for
Induction Heating".IEEE Trans. on Industrial
Electronics.vol38,n°3( 1991 ).
(3).- E.J.Dede, J.V.Gonzalez, V.Esteve, J.Jordan,
L.Lapiedra, E.Maset. "High Frequency Generator for
Induction Heating".PCIM Europe.May/June 1991.
(4).- Eckhardt,H.J., Naunapper,D, "Power MOSFETS,
Tryristors and transmitting Tubes in Converters for Hardening",
PCIM Conference Proceeding (1989).
Photo 1: I 2 KW/ 250 KHz series resonant generator [5].- WE.Frank, C.F.Der, "Solid State RF Generators for
for induction heating applications Induction Heating Applications", IEEE-AIS Proceedings,
pp.939-944 (1982).
Loe
MOSFET INVERTER
Lw
--.
4-a+
3 0 380V
R
s c.. I
I
I
T Coe
_
W-03
_,
----
CC32
TRANSFORMER
HEATING
COIL
Figure 9: Block diagram of the developed series resonant converter for induction heating.
