1.

INTRODUCTION
1. 1 Soft-Switching Inverters
It is desirable for power converters to have high efficiencies and high power densities.
Packaging and cost limitations require that the converter have a small physical size and weight.
Power density and electrical performance are dependent on the switching frequency as it
determines the values of the reactive components in the converter. Thus, high frequency
operation of the converter is highly desired. However, operation at high frequency results in
higher switching losses and higher switching stresses caused by the circuit parasitics (stray
inductance, junction capacitance).
The main factors that contribute to the high-frequency switching losses are:
 Semiconductor devices have non-zero turn-on and turn-off times and thus there is a finite
time during the transitions wherein the devices are conducting a significant current while
a large voltage is applied across it. This results in large energy dissipation. This energy
loss increases with increasing frequency.
 At high frequencies, high dv/dt and di/dt induce voltage and current oscillations in
parasitic capacitors and inductors during switching transitions. These oscillations result in
higher peak current and voltage in the devices and thus the switching loss increases.
Furthermore, these oscillations create EMI noise, which can interfere with other parts of
the circuit or surrounding electronic equipment.
 When a device is turned on while having a voltage across it, the energy stored in the
parasitic capacitance across the switch is dissipated in it. This loss increases with the
frequency and is proportional to the square of the voltage across the device before turn-
on.

Soft-switching techniques force the switch voltage or current to zero before the device
switching, thus avoiding current and voltage overlap during the switching transition. The
advantages of soft switching are as follows:

 Lower switching losses due to smaller overlap of switch voltage and current.
 Lower dv/dt and di/dt and thus lower voltage spike and EMI emissions.
 Higher reliability due to reduced stresses on the switching components.
 Reduced voltage and current ratings for the devices.
 Smaller reactive elements.

Soft switching for the power devices can be achieved by either zero-voltage switching (ZVS)
or zero-current switching (ZCS). ZVS consists of turning on the switches while the voltage
across them is zero. ZCS consists of turning off the switches when the current through them is
zero. Common to all approaches of soft switching is the use of reactive elements to shape the
current and voltage waveforms to achieve the necessary conditions for ZVS or ZCS. Soft
switching has been proven to be an effective means of reducing switching losses and for
attaining higher overall efficiencies. Various soft-switching techniques have been developed in
the recent years.
 Fig.1(a).Soft Switching of proposed converter.

1.2 Soft switching inverters in Induction Heating

In recent years, high-frequency (HF) Induction Heating (IH) cooking and processing
appliances using high-frequency inverter for home-use have been becoming more and more
popular, because of their safety, cleanliness, availability, comfortableness, rapid heating and
energy saving in power management. For further prospective generalization of high frequency
high power IH Cooking Heater in all electricity smart houses, not only cost effective, but also
higher efficiency as well as high power density are actually indispensable from an application
point of view.
 Furthermore, effective applicability for a variety of pan metallic materials such as low
resistivity metals; aluminum, copper and high resistivity materials; non-magnetic and magnetic
stainless steel in addition to multi-layer metal is important for the state-of-the art consumer
energy markets. In order to adapt and match for various metallic pans and vessels, the latest
development of HF inverters which include selective resonant frequency changing principle, as
well as frequency Tripler/frequency doubler are effective power solution. However, the higher
switching frequency becomes, the more switching losses increase for high frequency power
conversion processing.
In this project, a novel prototype of frequency doubler type HF resonant inverter which is
composed of two sub multi resonant inverter cells and all metal IH load is proposed originally,
together with its operating principle and unique features. The proposed HF resonant inverter is
expected reduced switching losses by frequency doubler operation. The phase-shifted control
output power regulation scheme which is capable of operating under selective conditions of
frequency doubler mode and fundamental switching frequency mode is explained for low
resistivity metal IH and high resistivity metal IH loads, respectively. Furthermore, by using the
experimental setup implementation of resonant HF inverter, the operating performances and
evaluations are illustrated from a practical point of view, along with approximate theoretical
considerations.

1.3 Objectives
 To present the detailed steady-state operation and analysis with natural-clamping or zero-
current-switching turn-off concept by secondary modulation.
 Use soft switching inverter to perform ZVS and ZCS to improve the efficiency of a boost.
 To experimentally demonstrate the inverter performance and claimed natural
commutation, soft-switching (ZCS of primary devices and ZVS of secondary devices)
over wide voltage and power transfer variations.
 Use hysteresis current controller to utilize its several undesirable features, such as
variable switching frequency of the inverter stage and drastically increasing switching
frequency when the band width is narrow.
 To decrease the switching stress and loss, because all of the switches are turned on and
off with ZVS and ZCS.
 To illustrate the design of the proposed inverter.
 To present and discuss simulation results of the proposed inverter and modulation to
verify the presented analysis and design
2. LITERATURE SURVEY

Among the various emerging applications of power electronics, induction heating (IH)
plays a great role in industry and home applications. IH systems have many positive properties,
including cleanliness, CO2 less than the fossil burners, safety, and high thermal efficiency. The
IH is a kind of highly efficient heat conversion system. For the same quantity of heat energy, IH
cookers have 84% efficiency of energy transfer where non induction electrical cookers achieve
only 74.2%. IH systems simply consist of an inverter and an IH coil and a heating object. AC
current flows through the surface of a conductor and home IH systems produce heat based on
eddy current and skin effect resistance of the coil and metal pots. As can be seen, high-frequency
current moves around the surface of the conductor, so it is necessary to use litz wire planar-type
induction coil for utilizing whole area of the conductor. IH load functions like a transformer in
which metallic pot is considered as a single turn. The induction coil and the metallic pot function
as the primary and the secondary of a transformer, respectively. The greatest advantages of high-
frequency IH appliances are to save energy while serving the same temperature and to take less
heat loss.

2.1 Review of Papers

“A NOVEL TYPE TIME-SHARING HIGH-FREQUENCY RESONANT SOFT-SWITCHING

INVERTER FOR ALL METAL IH COOKING APPLIANCES” this paper gives a novel type
time-sharing high-frequency resonant soft-switching inverter composed of combining two phase
multi-resonant sub inverter cells in parallel for common series resonant tank load is
demonstrated originally for all metal induction heating cooking appliances, together with a fixed
output frequency resonant current phasor angle control scheme by phase-shifted PWM which is
suitable for high frequency power regulation. In particular, this high-frequency multi-resonant
inverter with lossless snubbing capacitors for ZVS can efficiently operate under the conditions of
load resonant frequency changing mode; frequency doubler mode(100kHz) and switching
frequency mode(50kHz) for low resistivity metal IH and high resistivity metal IH loads,
respectively. The feasible operating performances of experimental setup implementation are
evaluated and discussed in detail.

“CURRENT PHASOR-CONTROLLED ZVS HIGH-FREQUENCY RESONANT INVERTER

FOR INDUCTION HEATING APPLICATIONS” A new prototype of an efficiency-improved
zero voltage soft-switching (ZVS) high-frequency resonant (HF-R) inverter for induction heating
(IH) applications is presented in this paper. By adopting the dual pulse modulation mode
(DPMM) that incorporates a sub mode power regulation scheme such as pulse density
modulation, pulse frequency modulation, and asymmetrical pulse width modulation into main
one of the resonant current phase angle difference (θ) control, the IH load power can be widely
regulated under the condition of ZVS, while significantly improving the efficiency in the low
output power setting.

“THREE-PHASE SOFT-SWITCHING INVERTER WITH MINIMUM COMPONENTS” In

this paper, a novel three-phase soft-switching inverter is presented. The inverter-switch turn on
and turn off are performed under zero-voltage switching condition. This inverter has only one
auxiliary switch, which is also soft switched. Having one auxiliary switch simplifies the control
circuit considerably.

“PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF HIGH VOLTAGE SUPER JUNCTION MOSFETS

FOR ZERO-VOLTAGE SOFT-SWITCHING INVERTER APPLICATIONS” This paper
evaluates three different 600V-level super junction (SJ) MOSFETs employed in zero-voltage
soft-switching inverter applications. Inverter efficiency was measured and compared with the
same inverter test setup by only changing different MOSFETs. Besides high efficiency
requirement, better switching performance is also highly appreciated in various inverter
applications. Comparison test was done on each super junction MOSFET to investigate its body
diode reverse recovery and associated problems. Based on performance of both efficiency and
reverse recovery related issues, a high voltage super junction MOSFET selection for soft
switching inverter was suggested.

“VARIABLE TIMING CONTROL FOR WIDE CURRENT RANGE ZERO-VOLTAGE SOFT-

SWITCHING INVERTERS” This paper presents a variable timing controlled soft switching
inverter. The proposed timing control is based on a simple voltage sensing circuit that detects
zero voltage crossing condition to determine the main switch turn-on time. The proposed
technique can be applied to different types of zero voltage switching type inverters

“AN IMPROVED LLC RESONANT INVERTER FOR INDUCTION HEATING

APPLICATIONS WITH ASYMMETRICAL CONTROL” this paper proposes a modified LLC
resonant load configuration of a full-bridge inverter for induction-heating applications. The LLC
load configuration is a combination of a series inductor, a matching transformer, and an inductor
and am capacitor connected in parallel. The output power is controlled using the asymmetrical
voltage-cancellation technique. With the use of a phase-locked loop control, the operating
frequency is automatically adjusted to maintain a small constant lagging phase angle under load-
parameter variation during the heating process.

“A NEW ZONE-CONTROL INDUCTION HEATING SYSTEM USING MULTIPLE

INVERTER UNITS APPLICABLE UNDER MUTUAL MAGNETIC COUPLING
CONDITIONS” This paper proposes a new “zone-control induction heating” (ZCIH) system
consisting of two or more sets of a high frequency inverter unit and a work coil. The work coils
are wound around a single susceptor as close as possible to reduce a leakage magnetic flux. The
inverters independently control the amplitude of each coil current to adjust the power provided to
the work coil and/or the heat generated in each zone of the susceptor. As a result, the ZCIH
system enables a temperature uniformity not only in a heating-up period but also in a
temperature-maintaining period. Theoretical analysis derives the control performance of the
current amplitude, and implies that the phase-angle control of the coil current is required to
adjust the current amplitude in a wide range.

“DUAL-MODE-OPERATION HALF-BRIDGE RESONANT CONVERTER FOR

IMPROVED-EFFICIENCY INDUCTION HEATING SYSTEM” This paper proposes the use of
the half-bridge inverter in two operating modes to achieve higher efficiency in a wide output
power range. The power converter topology can be reconfigured by changing the resonant
capacitors through electromechanical relays. As a consequence, the entire efficiency of the
cooking process is improved with a cost-effective procedure.

3. PROPOSED SYSTEM

Proposed Soft Switching Resonant Inverter

Fig.1 (b) shows a schematic main circuit arrangement of the newly-proposed time-
sharing HF multiple-resonant soft switching inverter incorporating two single-ended multi
resonant inverter cells with DC bus line link inductors L1 & L2, link resonant capacitors C1 &
C2 and common load resonant tank in addition to the switching power devices Q1(S1/D1) &
Q2(S2/D2) in parallel with lossless snubbing capacitors. The IH load is represented by R0-L0
series inductive circuit model. Here, R0: effective equivalent resistance in working coil, and L0:
effective equivalent inductance in working coil. This IH load is connected in series with the
series compensated capacitor Cc, which is, therefore, represented by a series resonant tank circuit
model (R0-L0-Cc).

Fig. 1 (b). A newly-proposed HF Soft Switching resonant inverter

Fig.2 indicates a basic unit cell of a single-ended multi-resonant inverter using a reverse
conducting switching power devices or in parallel with lossless snubbing capacitor Cs1 or Cs2
for Zero voltage switching. This multi-resonant inverter cell includes the DC bus line link
inductor L1 or L2. The series load resonant tank circuit as IH tuned load is placed in parallel with
Cs1 or Cs2 via link resonant capacitor C1 or C2. It is noted that this basic unit cell is effectively
applied for proposed multiple resonant inverter shown in Fig.1.
 Fig. 2. Single-IGBT multiple-resonant inverter cells.
4. OPERATING PRINCIPLE OF SOFT SWITCHING INVERTER FOR IH

Fig.3 provides the switching-mode equivalent circuits of the single-ended multi-resonant

inverter cell, which include six operating fashion during one cycle period. The gate pulse
patterns and the relevant voltage and current waveforms to explain the operating principle of
single RC switch multi-resonant inverter cell (see Fig.2) are illustrated in Fig.4. In this steady-
state operation, the duty factor of Q1 is set to D=0.5. Observing these operating waveforms in
Fig.4, it is noted that the load resonant current frequency iR. Output current frequency is to be
twice of switching frequency of Q1. In other words, the operation mode of this inverter cell
indicates a frequency doubler mode under soft-switching condition, which can realize the
switching power losses reduction of Q1 for higher switching operation as well as switching surge
suppression.
The high-frequency multi-resonant inverter as the single ended inverter cell can effectively work
as an attractive frequency doubler mode under two conditions of minimized switching power
losses and lowered switching surges for higher frequency operation cycle. In general, it is
difficult to control the output power for IH cooking appliances under a condition of an optimum
operation for frequency doubler mode of single-ended multi-resonant inverter cell itself.
 Fig. 4. Operating waveforms of a single IGBT multiple-resonant inverter cell.

The operating principle of the single RC-switch multi-resonant inverter cell shown in
Fig.2 is briefly describes as follow;
•Mode1 (t0 ≤ t ≤ t1): This mode corresponds to the operating state before Q1 is gated on. The
series compensated capacitor CC connected to IH load (R0-L0) is discharging by the load current
resonance through R0 - L0 - CC - L1 toward DC source, together with the current through the
diode D1 of Q1.
•Mode2 (t1 ≤ t ≤ t2): This operating mode corresponds to the circuit state during an interval
when the gate signal is delivered to Q1. During this interval, D1 keeps conducting, on the other
hand, the series capacitor CC starts charging resonantly by load current resonance through R0 -
L0 - CC - L1. The discharging current is fed back to the DC source.
 Fig. 3. Switching operation modes and equivalent circuit of single IGBT multiple-resonant inverter cell in Fig.2.

•Mode3 (t2 ≤ t ≤ t3): The current through bus line link inductor L1 changes to an opposite
direction as power regarding current fed back to E. S1 turns on ZVZCS commutation with
lowered switching losses. In addition, the recovery current of D1 could be practically minimized.
The capacitor CC begin to discharge by means of load resonance through R0 - L0 - CC - S1 loop.
•Mode4 (t3 ≤ t ≤ t4): This Mode corresponds to the operating state when Q1 turns off. In this
mode, S1 turns off with ZVS commutation. The current flows through Cs1. The capacitor CC
starts to charge by the inductive energy stored into L1. The current from L1 becomes zero.
•Mode5 (t4 ≤ t ≤ t5): The lossless snubbing capacitor Cs1 begins discharging by load resonance
through R0 - L0 - CC – Cs1, loop to an opposite polarity.
•Mode6 (t5 ≤ t ≤ t6): CC and Cs1 are still discharging. When vQ1 reaches to zero, his mode ends
and returns to mode1.
4.1 Time-sharing Gate Control

Fig. 5 provides time sharing gate pulse sequences and load resonant current waveforms of
two multi-resonant inverter cells in newly-developed time sharing HF multi-resonant inverter.
Duty factors of Q1 and Q2 are both set to D=0.5. Note that the IH load resonant current
frequency: fr equal to the output operating frequency: f0 is specified to be twice of the switching
frequency: fsw which is under frequency doubler operation mode. In this case, iC1=iR (Q1) and
iC2= iR(Q2) fluctuate as illustrated in Fig.4 and Fig.5. In the case of time-sharing multiple-
resonant inverter shown in Fig.1, iR (Q1) and iR (Q2) fluctuation can be conveniently
compensated with each other by time sharing gate control as shown in Fig.5.

Fig.5. Time sharing gate pulse sequences and load resonant current waveforms of two single IGBT multiple-
resonant inverter cells.

4.2 Switching Cycle Numbers Reduction

Table I indicates the comparative switching cycle numbers of the proposed time-sharing
HF multiple-resonant inverter discussed here as compared with the other high frequency resonant
inverters; full bridge and single ended push-pull inverters. As indicated in Table I, the equivalent
switching cycle numbers of the time-sharing HF multiple-resonant inverter could be reduced to
1/4 and 1/2 as compared to the full bridge and single ended push-pull resonant inverters,
respectively. The switching power semiconductor devices Q1 and Q2 can be operated under the
conditions of soft-switching transitions; ZVZCS in turn-on and ZVS in turn-off.

TABLE I : SWITCHING CYCLE NUMBERS COMPARED WITH TYPICAL HF INVERTERS

Circuit (a) Proposed Circuit (b) Full Bridge circuit (c) Single Ended push
pull circuit
Number of Switching 2 4 2
Devices
Witching frequency f0 / 2 f0 f0
 fsw
Equivalent Switching (f0 / 2) * 2 = f0 f0 * 4 = 4 f0 f0 * 2 = 2 f 0
counts per seconds

4.3 High Frequency Power Regulation

4.3.1 Output HF Power Regulation

The output power regulation of the proposed time-sharing HF inverter can be achieved by
phasor angle control for link resonant capacitor currents ( iR(Q1) or iR(Q2)) by phase-shifted
PWM in the fixed switching frequency. The load resonant current iR(Q1) as the link resonant
current in a single-IGBT multi-resonant inverter cell shown in Fig.2 flows through Q1 and a
common IH load. On the other hand, iR(Q2) as the link resonant current in other inverter cell
flows through Q2 and a common IH load. Under an optimum circuit design consideration of two
single-IGBT multi-resonant inverter cells, the load resonant current frequency fr of IH tuned tank
load becomes double of switching frequency fsw. Assume that iR(Q1) and iR(Q2) through the
link resonant capacitors; C1, C2 are sinusoidal with fr=2fsw, fr=f0, ω=2πfsw, and ω0=2ω.
Newly, the both phasor currents are as follows;

iR(Q1) = 2I sin 2ωt ….. (1)

iR(Q2) = 2I sin 2(ωt +ϕ ) …..(2)

The resonant load current iR through IH tuned tank circuit is represented by,

iR = iR(Q1) + iR(Q2) .....(3)

ϕ in equation (4) is a phasor angle between iR(Q1) and iR(Q2). A phase difference ϕ is exactly
specified by the gate signals of Q1 and Q2. Considering ω=2πfsw, we can obtain,
iR = I (ϕ ) sin 2(ωt +ϕ1 ) …..(4)

where, I (ϕ ) = 2 √2I cosϕ , ϕ1= tan -1{sin 2 ϕ /(1+ cos2 ϕ)}ϕ1

Therefore, a frequency of the load resonant current is to be double of the switching

frequency fsw of Q1 and Q2. Also, the amplitude of the load resonant current I (ϕ) is function of
ϕ. As a result, the effective value iR (rms) of the load resonant current can be smoothly regulated
by adjusting ϕ under soft commutation operation. The maximum value of load resonant current
can be adjusted by controlling ϕ of phasor current phase difference on the basis of equation (4).
As a result, the output IH power regulation of multiple-resonant inverters can be achieved by a
phase-shifted PWM strategy for Q1 and Q2 under a fixed duty factor D=0.5. In this operating
pulse control sequence, a slight dead time between Q1 and Q2 is indispensable only the specific
case that phase shifted angle ϕ is a maximum value ϕ =180°.
(a) ϕ = 1800 (b) ϕ = 1200
Fig.5. Time sharing gate pulse sequences and load resonant current waveforms of two single IGBT multiple-
resonant inverter cells.

Fig. 6 shows the gate signals of Q1 and Q2 for the output power regulation, and the output load
resonant current waveforms in the case of two setting phase-shifted angles; ϕ =180° and ϕ
=120°(0° ≤ ϕ ≤ 180°). It is noted that the load resonant current frequency fr is kept to be almost
double of switching frequency fsw in spite of ϕ variable.

4.4 Two Operation Modes Corresponding To IH Metal Materials

As for the variety of metal IH cooking appliance, IH load parameters R0 and L0

measured in working coil with some metal pans/vessels tend to be diverse values in dependent
on working coil turns numbers, litz wire structures, pan metal materials as well as load resonant
current frequency.
Especially, the effective equivalent resistance R0 in working coil strongly depends upon
the metal materials of IH pans/ vessels. Table II indicates some consumer use IH load circuit
parameters certain difference of R0 by the pan/vessel materials to be heated by IH principle
reaches 8.8 times. In such load condition, it is difficult to heat various pan/vessel materials by the
same load resonant circuit constants. To solve this significant problem, it is actually effective
solution that the changing the load resonant current frequency fr by means of varying he series
compensated capacitor capacitance CC as illustrated in Fig.7. In the case of low resistivity metal
materials such as copper or aluminum, the load resonant current frequency fr is to be designed for
frequency doubler operation mode (fo=2fsw). On the other hand, in the case of high resistivity
metals such as magnetic stainless steel or iron, fr is designed to be almost same as fsw. The
changing mechanism of the or aluminum, the load resonant current frequency fr is to be designed
for frequency doubler operation mode (f0 =2fsw). On the other hand, in the case of high resistivity
metals such as magnetic stainless steel or iron, fr is designed to be almost same as fsw. The
changing mechanism of the series compensated capacitor capacitance CC is actually
implemented by detecting the effective value iR (rms) of the load resonant current iR.
 Fig. 7. A schematic system arrangement for all IH cooking appliances with selective switching of load resonant
capacitor CC.

5. POWER LOSS ANALYSIS

The power loss analysis has been carried out to reveal the loss generated locations in the
high-frequency inverter. Considered losses are listed as follows.
Conduction losses Pc_Q and switching losses Ps_Q generated in the switching devices Ql and Q2
are calculated by equations (5) and (6).

t 2
1
P c−Q=
Ts (∫0
V on i Q dt+∫ V ce ( sat ) iQ dt
D
1
) (5)

Here, Von_D; free-wheel diode forward voltage, Vce (sat); collector-emitter saturation voltage of
TGBTs. These values can be referred from datasheets. iQ is derived from the observed switching
waveforms. Time periods to to tl and tl to t2 correspond to diode conducting period and IGBT
conducting period, respectively.
2+t
1
Ps = ∫ V Q i Q dt (6)
Q
Ts 2
In equation (6)vQ and iQ are derived from the observed switching waveforms. T s corresponds to
the commutation period. Iron losses of L1, L2 can be calculated from the relationship between
the unit volume Pcv of the inductor core and∆ B. ∆ B can be calculated by equation (7).
∅¿max
1
∆ B= V dt . (7)
A e N 1 ∅∫ L1 ¿min

Here, Ae is effective cross section of the magnetic core, NI isturn number of the inductors, VLl is
the applied inductor voltage. t¢_min to t¢_max corresponds to the time interval of minimum and
maximum periods of the each inductor current. P cv can be referred from the datasheet of the
magnetic core.Then, iron losses of L1, L2 are able to be derived fromequation (8).

Pi=Pcv Ve . (8)
Copper losses Peo of the two inductors can be calculated from the measured values; RL and iL
by equation (9).
2
t 0+ ¿T RL i L ¿
1
s

Pco = ∫ ¿ dt (9)
Ts 0

ESR losses of the resonant capacitors can calculated from equation (10) and measured ESR. Be
also
2
t 0+ ¿T RE i C dt ¿
1
s

Pca = ∫ ¿ (10)
Ts 0

Fig.11 shows the loss analysis results calculated from equations (5) to (10). In both operation
mode; frequency doubler mode and fundamental switching frequency mode, almost half of the
total losses are occupied by the conduction losses of the switching power devices QI and Q2. As
shown in Fig. 8, the device currents flowing through QI and Q2 at low power range do not be
reduced as compared with the high power range because of the circulating current. Therefore,
further improvement of the power conversion efficiency, latest IGBTs should be selected.
 Fig. 8. Loss analysis.

6. ADVANTAGEOUS POINTS OF SOFT SWITCHING INVERTER FOR IH

 Zero voltage soft-switching operating ranges are wider for two operating modes.
 The switching power losses can be considerably reduced for frequency doubler operation
mode. The high power density could be expected due to the effectiveness of energy
saving.
 EMI noise level could be lowered for two operating modes because zero voltage soft
switching commutation could be achieved and switching surges could be suppressed.
 The wider HF power regulation could be achieved for two operating modes; frequency
doubler mode and switching frequency mode.
 Improved efficiency, Low switching losses, Low voltage stress, reduced acoustic noise
and EMI.