Soft-transient modulation strategy for improved efficiency and EMC performance of PFC converters applied to flexible induction heating appliances

et al. 2022

IET Power Electronics

The technology of flexible cooking surfaces applied to domestic induction heating (IH) appliances offers several advantages that improve the experience of the users, not only because the safety or cleanness, but also due to the fast heating and flexibility. These cooktops have more challenging design requirements because of different mains connections, efficiency requirements, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standards, control complexity, and cost. In previous works, the use of a front-end power factor corrector (PFC) rectifier has been proposed to overcome these restrictions. In order to get a cost-effective implementation, this paper proposes the use of a front-end PFC stage and a matrix resonant inverter, which features zero voltage switching (ZVS), to achieve a reduced number of power devices, and get a high performance and reduced power losses in the converter. Finally, an experimental prototype with four outputs of 3.6 kW has been implemented to prove the feasibility of this proposal.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power factor correction stage and matrix zero voltage switching resonant inverter for domestic induction heating appliances

et al. 2022

IET Power Electronics

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“…The PFC stage assures a power factor close to the unity, a low harmonic distortion and generates a controllable DC voltage bus. This stage allows separating the mains front the multi-inverter structure, fulfilling EMC requirements [11][12][13][14][15][16] and making easier the control of the output power in the pot [17][18][19]. Besides, the bus voltage can be increased, decreasing the current through IH inverter and IH load, and, therefore, decreasing losses in these devices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A front-end PFC stage for improved performance of flexible induction heating appliances

et al. 2020

JAE

Flexible cooking surfaces, eg. fully active surfaces, have gained lately an increasing importance in the domestic induction heating. Multi-inverter structures are a cost-efficient solution to develop this technology. However, they add control restrictions that can be solved with a power factor corrector (PFC) stage as proposed in this work. The proposed converter and modulation strategy work with zero voltage switching (ZVS), decreasing the switching losses, enabling a higher working frequency and, therefore, decreasing the magnetic devices size. The bus voltage is controllable and can be increased, easing the load power control and decreasing current through load and inverter and, so, the power losses. Besides, the switching frequency is constant in the mains cycle and can be modified to synchronize the load inverter and the PFC stage avoiding intermodulation noise. A 3.6 kW prototype has been implemented fulfilling the EMC requirements. The experimental waveforms and efficiency have been measured to prove the feasibility of this proposal.

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Matrix ZVS Resonant Inverter for Domestic Induction Heating Applications Featuring a Front-End PFC Stage

2021 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC)

et al. 2021