Improved modication of the single-switch AC-AC

converter for induction heating applications

A. Shenkman, B. Axelrod and Y. Berkovich
Abstract: A new single-switch parallel resonant converter for induction heating is introduced.
The circuit consists of the input LC-lter, bridge rectier and only one controlled power switch.
The switch operates in a soft commutation mode and serves as a high frequency generator. The
improved scheme of the above converter is based on the prototype, which was previously
introduced by the present authors, and avoids its shortcomings, i.e. the presence of the DC-
component in the load current. The steady-state analysis of the converter operation is given. The
theoretical analysis and computer simulation are in good agreement with the experimental results.
1 Introduction
Static frequency converters have been extensively applied in
industry as a medium frequency power supply for induction
heating and melting applications. Recently many studies of
high power factor rectiers with a single switch have been
made [1, 2]. These schemes are characterised by a close to
sine wave input current. The scheme of the AC-AC
converter for induction heating is described in [3]. The
input circuit of the converter is constructed similarly to the
input circuit in [1, 2]. However, the inverting circuit is
constructed by a traditional mode with four controlled
switches. In this paper a new scheme of the single-switch
parallel resonant converter for heating is introduced. This
scheme is a modication of the single switch resonant
converter, which has been presented and analysed in [4]. As
has been shown, the converter input current is practically
sinusoidal, its power factor is close to unity and the switch
operates in a soft commutation regime. However, a serious
disadvantage of this scheme is the presence of the DC-
component in the load current. It causes additional losses
and rules out the possibility of using a separating
transformer. The proposed scheme, shown in Fig. 1,
maintains all the advantages of the prototype, and at the
same time avoids the above disadvantage. The main feature
of the circuit is that the capacitor is connected in series with
the load. Such a connection completely eliminates the DC
component in the load current in the steady-state regime.
This allows us to use the matching transformer and to apply
the same converter in installations with various required
levels of a load voltage.
2 Principles of operation
The commutation process of the proposed inverter, which
consists of three time intervals, is shown in Fig. 2. The
idealised waveforms of: the input current i
in
, capacitor
current i
C
, capacitor voltage v
C
, switch current i
sw
, the
currents via the bridge diodes i
Dl
, i
D2
and output voltage v
o
are shown in Fig. 3. We suppose that the switching
frequency is much higher than the input line frequency
and in the analysis we arbitrarily chose the time interval
where v
in
40.
2.1 Interval 1: t
0
otot
1
The equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 2a. The switch Sw is
off. The capacitor C charges up practically linearly via the
circuit L
in
D
1
CL
r
loadD
3
. The charge rate is
determined by the instantaneous input voltage v
in
.
2.2 Interval 2: t
1
otot
2
The equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 2b. The switch Sw is
on. The capacitor is discharging oscillatorily via the circuit
SwCL
r
load. The discharging current i
C
varies harmo-
nically and at the moment when i
C
reaches zero the second
interval ends.
2.3 Interval 3: t
2
otot
3
The equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 2c. Switch Sw is not
in the conducting mode and the oscillatory discharging
process continues via the circuit CL
r
loadall the bridge
diodes. This interval ends when the capacitor current
decreases to zero (the switch by this time is off).
3 Operational analysis
The analysis of the circuit operation is based on the
commonly accepted assumption that all circuit components
are ideal and that the capacitor discharge current can be
approximated by a sinusoid. The equations are normalised
L
in
V
in
D
1
D
2
D
3
D
4
Sw
C
L
r
R
o
C
o L
o
Fig. 1 Circuit diagram
The authors are with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Holon Academic Institute of Technology, 52 Golomb St., P.O.B. 305, Holon
58102, Israel
r IEE, 2003
IEE Proceedings online no. 20030766
doi:10.1049/ip-epa:20030766
Paper rst received 10th December 2002 and in revised form 11th June 2003
IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004 1
using the following base quantities: base voltage V
B
V
in
;
base impedance R
B

L
o
=C
o
_
; base current I
B
V
B
/R
B
;
base power P
B
V
B
I
B
; base frequency o
B
1=

L
o
C
o
p
and
base time T
B
2p/o
B
; here L
o
, C
o
and R
o
are the load
parameters.
The proposed converter has been simulated using the
PSPICE-program. As a result, the optimal range of the
normalised parameters was chosen. The criteria of this
choice were the reasonable levels of the following quantities:
maximal normalised value of the switch current
(I

sw:max
I
sw.max
/I
B
610) and maximal normalised value
of the switch voltage (V

sw:max
V
sw.max
/V
B
45). To
provide these values it is necessary to choose the following
ranges of the normalised parameters: L
r
*
L
r
/L
o
0.10.2;
o

r
1=

L
r
C
p
=o
B
3 5; o

s
1 2, where L
r
and C
are the inductance and capacitance connected in series to
the load (see Fig. 1).
The goal of the analytical investigation is the evaluation
of the relationship between input and output voltages
M
g
V
o
/V
in
as a function of the circuit parameters and
switching frequency. This problem will be solved in three
stages. In the rst stage we nd the relationship between the
amplitude of the capacitor current I
C.max
, in the rst half-
wave of the period, and the average value of the input
current I
in
, which during the switch period might be
supposed as constant. Taking into account that the average
capacitor current is zero, according to Figs. 3 and 4, we
have
S
1
S
2
S
3
0

_
DT
sw
=2
0
I
C:max
sin
o
sw
t
D
_ _
dt

_
DT
sw
dT
sw
=2
kI
C:max
sin
o
sw
t
D
_ _
dt

_
T
sw
DT
sw
I
in
dt 0
1
where k is the coefcient, considering the current damping
in the second half-period, I
C.max
is the amplitude of the
capacitor current, I
in
is the average value of the input
current, T
sw
is the switching period, o
sw
2p=T
sw
is the
switching frequency and D is the duty cycle. Solving (1), we
obtain
A
1

I
C:max
I
in

p1 D
1 kD
2
In the second stage we nd the relationship between the
amplitude of the nth harmonic of the capacitor current
L
in
D
1
D
2
D
3
D
4
D
3
D
4
D
3
D
4
D
1
D
2
D
1
D
2
S
C
L
r
L
r
L
r
V
in
S
C
S
C
a
b
c
+
_
V
o
R
o
C
o
L
o
V
o
R
o
C
o
L
o
V
o
R
o
C
o
L
o
+
_
+
+
_
V
C
V
C
i
C
i
C
V
C
i
C
+
+
_
_
_
i
sw
i
in
L
in
V
in
i
in
L
in
V
in
i
in
load
load
load
Fig. 2 Equivalent circuits corresponding to each time interval
t
t
t
t
t
i
in
, i
C
i
in
i
C
v
C
i
sw
i
D1
, i
D3
i
D
i
D2
, i
D4
v
o
T
sw
DT
sw
t
0
t
1
t
2
t
3
i
D1
, i
D2
, i
D3
, i
D4
Fig. 3 Ideal switching waveforms
I
max
kI
max
i
C
DT
sw
T
sw
S
1
S
2
S
3
t
Fig. 4 Determination of factor A
1
2 IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004
I
C.n.max
(n is the harmonic number) and the amplitude of the
capacitor current I
C.max
[4]
A
2;n

I
C:n:max
I
C:max

2D
p1 nD
2

sinnpD 3
In the third stage we determine the relationship between the
amplitude of the nth harmonic of the capacitor current
I
C.n.max
and the amplitude of the same harmonic of the
resistive component of the load current I
R.n.max
. Obviously
I
R:n:max
I
C:n:max
1
jY
o
jR
o
4
where
jY
o;n
j

1
R
o
_ _
2
no
sw
C
o

1
no
sw
L
o
_ _
2

1
R
o

1 no
sw
R
o
C
o

R
o
no
sw
L
o
_ _
2
5
Substituting (5) into (4), we obtain
I
R:n:max
I
C:n:max
1

1 no
sw
R
o
C
o

R
o
no
sw
L
o
_ _
2
_ 6
or with normalised quantities
A
3;n

I
R:n:max
I
C:n:max

1 R
2
o
no

sw

1
no

sw
_ _
2
_ 7
where R

o
R
o
=R
B
and o

sw
o
sw
=o
B
.
Furthermore, taking into consideration that the input
and output powers are almost equal, i.e.
P
in
P
out
8
and that the input and output powers are
P
in
V
in:rms
I
in:rms
V
in:rms
I
in:max

2
p and
P
out
V
o:rms
I
o:rms
V
o:rms
I
o:max
2
9
note that the rms value of a modulated sinusoid such as the
output (or capacitor C) current (see Fig. 7a) is I
max
/2. We
have
V
o:rms
V
in:rms

I
in:max
I
o:max

2
p
10
where V
o.max
and I
o.max
are the amplitude values of the load
voltage and current.
Taking into account (2), (3) and (7) we may obtain, using
the harmonic series relations
I
o:max

1
n1
I
2
o:n:max

1
n1
A
3;n
I
C:n:max

1
n1
A
2;n
A
3;n
I
C:n:max

A
1
I
in:max

1
n1
A
2;n
A
3;n

11
Thus the outputinput voltage ratio is
M
g

V
o:rms
V
in:rms

2
p
A
1

1
n1
A
2;n
A
3;n

2
12
where A
1
, A
2,n
and A
3,n
are in accordance with (2), (3)
and (7).
The calculation results of the dependency of M
g
by R

o
and o

sw
are shown in Fig. 5 (all the harmonics higher than
5 have been neglected). As can be seen, the change of the
load R

o
hardly inuences M
g
at all. At the same time as
follows from (12), and since the A coefcients include the
duty cycle D and frequency o, the change of the switching
frequency in the range 1:1oo

sw
o2 enlarges M
g
, (as well
as the output voltage) 34 times. These results indicate the
positive feature of the converter, i.e. the change of a load
hardly inuences the output voltage and only with the
change of frequency can one regulate the output voltage.
Figure 6 shows the SPICE simulation results of the
capacitor current and output voltage and their spectrum
for o

sw
1 4.
The values of the duty cycle D and coefcient k may be
calculated from the approximate polynomial expressions
D 15:77 61:5L

r
4:45o

r
33:55o

sw
17:6L

r
o
r
31:0L

r
o

sw
4:38o

r
o

sw
10
2
13
0
0.43
0.87
1.30
1.1
2.0
4.0
10.0
R
o
M
g

sw

Fig. 5 Factor M
g
V
o
/V
in
plotted against R
o
*
and o
s
*
40
40
100
100
10
0
40
0
c
u
r
r
e
n
t
,

A
v
o
l
t
a
g
e
,

V
c
u
r
r
e
n
t
,

A
v
o
l
t
a
g
e
,

V
I
C
V
O
I
C
V
O
2.70 2.75 2.80 2.85 2.90
0 20 40 60 80 100
time, ms
frequency, kHz
a
b
Fig. 6 Simulated waveforms
a output voltage and capacitor current
b their harmonic spectrum
IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004 3
k 8:67 40L

r
11:58o

r
24o

sw
2:33R

3:5o

r
o

sw
0:33o

r
R

10
2
14
These expressions have been received for the above-
mentioned range of parameters with an application of the
planning experiment method. Actually, a complete factor-
ial rst-order experiment was employed to investigate the
required parameters D and k as a function of four
independent factors L

r
, o

r
, o

sw
and R

. Parameters D
and k in each experiment have been received as a result of
the PSPICE-simulated process for all combinations of the
independent factors. These results were processed with a
known algorithm of the planning experiment, and the
approximate formulas, (13) and (14), have been received
(the relatively small members were neglected). The accuracy
of these approximate expressions has been estimated by
comparison with the computer simulation results and the
experimental results, which show that it is between 8590%.
4 Experimental verication
The proposed converter was built and tested at 220 V(rms)
for the output power 14005000W. The circuit parameters
are: R
o
60O; L
o
150mH; C
o
2.35mF; L
r
22mH;
L
in
8.0mH; C
in
0.94mF the power switch is AEG-T17-
1200 and the switching frequency o
sw
(62113) 10
3
s
1
.
The experimental waveforms of the capacitor current and
output voltage at a time scale of 20ms/div are shown in
Fig. 7. One can compare these waveforms with the
experimental waveforms in Fig. 6a. Note that the presence
of a small negative part of the capacitor current just after t
3
,
which does not appear in the simulated counterpart is
explained by using low-frequency rectier diodes having a
relatively large reverse recovery time (a few microseconds),
so that the capacitor current continues owing during this
time, but in the opposite direction. (The low-frequency, but
not high-frequency, diodes have been used for the purpose
of their relative high inner capacity that could serve the
natural lter protecting the input circuit from high-
frequency disturbances.)
Figure 8a demonstrates the simulated and experimental
waveforms of the input voltage v
in
and input current i
in
at a
time scale of 2ms/div. As can be seen, the experimental and
simulated curves are rather similar. The power factor of the
converter is very close to unity and the form of the input
current is practically sinusoidal. The output power control
was also checked in the range 1.44.2kW, which is
according to the frequency range of 1018kHz.
5 Conclusions
A new version of an AC-AC converter for induction
heating has been presented and analysed. The basic features
of the proposed circuit are as follows: (1) the converter
input current is practically sinusoidal; (2) its power factor is
close to unity; and (3) the output current does not include a
DC-component. This prevents additional losses and allows
for the possibility of using the separating transformer. The
circuit topology is very simple and includes only one power
switch, which operates in a soft commutation regime. The
converter provides wide range power control (0.31).
Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the actual
converter capability.
6 References
1 Jang, Y., and Ericson, R.W.: New single-switch three-phase high-
power-factor rectier using multiresonant zero-current switching, IEEE
Trans. Power Electron., 1998, 13, pp. 194201
2 Ismail, E.H., Oliveira, C.M., and Ericson, R.W.: A low-distortion
three-phase multiresonance boost rectier with zero-current switching,
IEEE Trans. Power Electron., 1998, 13, pp. 718726
3 Calleia, H., and Ordonez, R.: Control circuit for induction heating
inverter with active PFC. Proc. IEEE Power Electronics Specialists
Conf., New York, USA, 1998, pp. 485490
4 Shenkman, A., Axelrod, B., and Berkovich, Y.: A single-switch AC-
AC converter with high power factor and soft commutation for
induction heating applications, IEE Proc., Electr. Power Appl., 2001,
148, (6), pp. 469474
0
20 s
i
C
v
o
Fig. 7 Experimental waveforms for capacitor current and output
voltage
scales: 20A/div; 50V/div and 20ms/div
20
0
20
c
u
r
r
e
n
t
,

A
40
0
0 4 8 12 16 20
40
v
o
l
t
a
g
e
,

V
time, ms
a
b
i
in
v
in
I
in
V
in
V
in
, I
in
2 ms
Fig. 8 Waveforms of the input voltage and current scales for
experimental waveforms are 5A/div, 100V/div, 2ms/div
a simulated waveforms
b experimental waveforms
4 IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 151, No. 1, January 2004