Pulse density modulation control-based multi-load handling three leg inverter for cooking applications

Purpose Induction heating applications aided by power electronic control have become very attractive in the recent past. For cooking applications, power electronics circuits are very suitable to feed power to multi loads with an appropriate control technique. The purpose of this paper is to develop a three leg inverter to feed power to three loads simultaneously and independently. Design/methodology/approach Pulse density modulation control technique is used to control the output power independently with constant switching frequency. Findings Multi-load handling converter with independent power control is achieved with reduced number of switching devices (two switches/per load) with simple control strategy. Originality/value The proposed system is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink, and the thermal analysis is carried out in COMSOL multi-physics software. The hardware realisation is performed for a 1 kW prototype with 20 kHz switching frequency and 10 kHz pulse density modulation frequency. PIC16F877A microcontroller is used to validate the experimental results for various values of control signals (DPDM). The simulation and experimental results are in good agreement and validates the developed system.

Single Source Multi-Frequency AC-AC Converter for Induction Cooking Applications

In recent years, induction heating (IH) applications aided by electronic power control have gained significance. Particularly, for cooking applications, an appropriate control technique is required to feed power from a single source to multiple loads with minimum switching losses. Additionally, when multiple loads are used, it requires independent control and operation for each of the loads. The main idea of this work is to develop a single-stage AC-AC converter topology to feed power to multiple loads independently with a single source, with a reduced number of switching devices and with minimum switching losses. The proposed topology uses a frequency bifurcation concept to feed power to multiple loads by placing the transmitting coil and work coil at a distance of 3 cm. The source is resonated at a 25 kHz switching frequency, with the designed bifurcated frequencies of 20 kHz and 33 kHz. The resonant capacitors are appropriately chosen to operate at those frequencies. For real-time applications, simultaneous and independent power control are inevitable in multi load-fed IH applications. This is achieved through a pulse density modulation scheme with minimum switching losses. The simulation of the proposed system is performed in MATLAB/Simulink, and also the 1 kW system is validated using a PIC16F877A microcontroller. The real-time thermal variation in the load is also recorded using a FLIR thermal imager. The experimental and simulation results are observed, and the obtained efficiency of the system is plotted for various duty cycles of pulse density modulation control.