This paper analyzes a high-power (50 kW) high-frequency (150 kHz) voltage-fed inverter with a series-resonant load circuit for industrial induction heating applications, which is characterized by a full bridge inverter made of insulated-gate bipolar transistor and a power control based on pulse density modulation (PDM). This power control strategy allows the inverter to work close to the resonance frequency for all output-power levels. In this situation, zero-voltage switching and zero-current switching conditions are performed, and the switching losses are minimized. An additional improvement of inverter efficiency is achieved by choosing appropriate values of the modulation index. Results are verified experimentally using a prototype for induction hardening applications. A comparative study between the PDM and the classical power control by frequency variation will be made.

This paper analyzes a high-power (100-kW) high-frequency (50-kHz) voltage-fed inverter with a series resonant load circuit for industrial induction heating applications which is characterized by a full-bridge inverter composed of isolated-gate bipolar transistors and a new power control based on phase-shift (PS) control. This power control circuit incorporates a load-adaptive variable-frequency controller and automated blanking time management in order to allow the inverter to work in zero-voltage switching for all output power levels and load conditions. An important improvement of the inverter reliability is achieved by choosing an appropriate and novel switching sequence for the PS inverter. The results are verified experimentally using a prototype for induction hardening applications. A comparative study between the proposed and standard PS power control will be made.

This paper presents a comparison of the behavior of the intrinsic diode of silicon (Si) and silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs. The study was done for 1200 V Si and SiC MOSFETs. The data sheet from manufacturers shows the characteristics of MOSFET' intrinsic diode when gate source voltage (V_GS) is 0 V. There are applications where the MOSFET' intrinsic diode is used while V_GS is different than 0 V. One of these applications is induction heating, where depending on the load and the regulation system, the diode can conduct a significant part of the inverter current. In most applications which use the MOSFET' intrinsic diode, the turn ON of the intrinsic diode happens at V_GS = 0 V. After a blanking time, the MOSFET' gate is activated waiting for the direction change of current in the circuit. Therefore, most of the current through the MOSFET' intrinsic diode occurs with a V_GS different of 0 V. This paper shows the direct output characterization of Si and SiC MOSFET' intrinsic diode under different gate voltages. The gate resistor (R_G) is an important parameter of the characterization. Depending on the input capacitance of the Si or SiC MOSFET, different R_G are needed. The turn-on and turn-off behaviors are obtained when RG is optimized for each Si and SiC MOSFET. This has result in the turn-off robustness of intrinsic diode with optimum R_G. This paper presents a surprising result for the reverse characteristic of Si and SiC MOSFETs for the same current at different V_GS. The technology of Si MOSFET has different behavior depending on the manufacturer. The technology of SiC MOSFET presents a very similar behavior to low-voltage Si MOSFETs.

The induction surface hardening of parts with nonuniform cylindrical shape requires a multifrequency process in order to obtain a uniform surface hardened depth. This paper presents an induction heating high power supply composed by a single inverter circuit and a specially designed output resonant circuit. The whole circuit supplies simultaneously both medium- and high-frequency power signals to the heating inductor. An initial study is made to select the most appropriated topology for this application. The resonant output circuit is analyzed, and a design procedure is presented. The selected inverter operation is described and simulated. Simulations are experimentally verified on a 10-kW dual-frequency resonant inverter operating at 10 and 100 kHz using MOSFETs of silicon (Si) and silicon carbide (SiC) technology. A comparative study is presented based on the measurements of power losses and the energy efficiency of the inverter using both types of MOSFETs.

A new high-efficiency regulation method for a zero-current and zero-voltage current-fed push-pull converter is presented. The method proposed is based on the use of a controlled transformer as a post-regulator, which adds or subtracts an additional voltage to the output filter of the converter. An auxiliary regulator, which only handles a percentage of the output power, controls this transformer, and therefore, results in much higher efficiency than a normal preregulator would have. The novelty of the presented converter is that regulation is achieved without affecting the zero-voltage and zero-current switching in any working conditions. Small- and large-signal models of the converter have been developed and a low-power prototype has been simulated and implemented. The good agreement, between the experimental simulations and theoretical results, validates the theoretical developments.