IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 38, NO.

3, JUNE 1991

203

25-kW / 5 0 - k ~ zGenerator for Induction Heating

Enrique J. Dede, Member, IEEE, Josk V. Gonzilez, Juan A. Linares, Josc Jordan, Diego Ramirez,
Student Member, IEEE, and Pablo Rueda, Student Member, IEEE
Abstract-This report presents the features, technology, and
construction of a transistorized generator for induction heating
operating over the 4-50-kHz frequency range, which was developed in the Research and Development Department of G . H.
Industrial S.A.
This new type of 25-kW-output-power generator, allows replacement of the electronic tube generators for most of their
applications. The most outstanding advantages of this new
generator with respect to tube generators are more energy efficiency, extended life, reduced size, separated heating station of
the generator, and connection by flexible cable.
In addition, the generator has incorporated a frequency automatic tracking system that allows one to operate without any
adjustments over a wide frequency range.

which conditions the generator global efficiency. Therefore,

the efficiency to be achieved in practice is 50 % in classic
generators and 70 % in the aperiodic one.
We present a bipolar transistor generator for induction
heating, which was designed by the Research and Development Department of G.H. Industrial S.A. in Valencia, Spain,
and, now having ended the development stage, is in the
commercialized phase in Europe and the United States.
11. MAINFEATURES
OF THE DEVELOPED
TRANSISTORIZED
GENERATOR

The efficiency of the generator is higher than 90 %. It

operates in very wide frequency range with the same generator. The frequency ratio range with the same generator is
1:3. The change of the inductors is simple because of the
wide range of frequencies to be used. It is approximately one
tenth the size of comparable electronic tube generators.

Manuscript received lune 6, 1990; revised December 3, 1990.

E. J. Dede, I . V. Gonzalez, I. A. Linares, and I. Jordan are with G.H.
Industrial, S.A., Valencia, Spain.
D.Ramirez is with the Departmento de Electr6nica e Infodtica, Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
P. Rueda is with the European Space Technology Center, Noordwijk, the
Netherlands.
IEEE Log Number 9144759.

III. TOPOLOGICAL
FUNDAMENTALS
Basically, the load of an induction heating generator is an
inductor in which we find the piece to be heated. A direct
feed of the heating coil would result in apparent to real power
ratio that is too high; therefore, compensation of the heating
coil is needed. Compensation of the power factor is carried
out by a capacitor dimensioned so that this factor will be
close to the unity at the working frequency.
The compensation capacitor can be placed in series or in
parallel with the inductor. In the first case, the load acts like
a current source (inductance in series), and therefore, it has
to be fed by the voltage source (voltage-fed inverter). In the
second case, when the load is a parallel resonant circuit, it
will react like a voltage source (capacitor in parallel), and
therefore, it has to be fed by a current source (current-fed
inverter).
On the other hand, when driving a resonant load by an
inverter, there will always be a phase-shift between output
voltage and current. In the case of a series load, in some time
intervals, the current will flow from the load to the power
source. This implies that in an inverter with a series resonant
load (series inverter), the switches must be bidirectional in
current and unidirectional in voltage.
In an inverter with parallel resonant load (parallel inverter),
there will be some time intervals in which the output voltage
is opposite to the output current. In this case, the switches
must be bidirectional in voltage and unidirectional in current
(dual to the former case). These above theoretical differences
are summarized in Fig. 1.
Basically, the two load structures mentioned above adapt
correctly to the induction heating. However, there are some

I. INTRODUCTION
T THE MOMENT, two basic types of generators for
induction heating applications are on the market: thyristors static inverters and high-frequency electron tube generators.
The thyristor static inverters are used at frequencies from
500 Hz to 10 kHz. They are machines with great electrical
and mechanical robustness and satisfactory energy efficiency.
On the other hand, the most important problem is that the
frequency range of a thyristor static inverter is relatively
narrow so that in case of frequent inductor changes, it is
necessary to make difficult adjustments.
The thyristor technology is limited to use at frequencies
less than 10 kHz. This is due mainly to the recovery time
needed, which is very short, and the thyristor basic operating
principle does not allow such short recovering times.
Electronics tube generators, unlike thyristor static inverters, do not have any limit related to the frequencies used.
There are, at this moment, two type of electronic tube
generators: conventional or classic ones and aperiodic ones.
Both types of generators have in common the use of the
electronic tube. The most important disadvantages of both
types of generators are produced by the unavoidable use of
the electronic tube.
Electronic tubes have a limited life that, in practice, lies
between 4000 and 6OOO operating hours, depending on the
working conditions. On the other hand, the tube is a relatively inefficient element itself (never more than 75 %),

0278-0046/91/0600-0203$01.00 0 1991 IEEE

204

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 38, NO. 3, JUNE 1991

series

resonance

Parallel resonance

hC+

Load

++
+--

Switch

Source

* -+

Fig. 1. Topological differences between series and parallel resonance.

TABLE I
DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN
PARALLEL
AND SERIES
INVERTER
Series Inverter

Parallel Inverter

(+) Simpler structure and,

( ) Unloaded operation possible

(+) short circuit in the working

consequently, much cheaper,

coil possible
(+) high-voltage capacitors are
not required
simpler
(+) transistors conduct only the
(+) power source from a
active current
noncontrolled rectifier
( - ) unloaded operation only possible ( - ) logic control of the generator
more sophisticated
with a sophisticated control
( - ) power source by a controlled
( - ) no short circuit capability
( - ) power control by frequency shift recifier or a chopper
can give problems in some
( - ) need of a smoothing choke
appGcations
( - ) bigger size
( - ) Transistors have to conduct the
whole current of the inductor

( ) control of the unit normally

The power delivered by the generator is controlled by a

feedback loop comparing the nominal dc current with the
actual one. The output of the loop regulates the duty cycle of
the chopper. The inverter is controlled in such a way that the
driving pulses Q and its complementary
have at each
moment a frequency lower than the resonant frequency of the
load (which is variable with the chosen inductor and also
varies during the heating cycle, especially when the piece
crosses the Curie temperature.)
This power structure is controlled by four european double-size control circuit boards. The chopper, the starter, and
inverter bridge consist of plug-in european sized boards,
where the power transistors are water cooled.

A . Chopper Description
The chopper structure together with switching aid networks can be seen in Fig. 3 Coil L, is designed to limit
di / dt to less than 50 A/ps and capacitor C , for limiting the
transistor V,, to less than 200 V at the end of the collector
current fall time. The switch to be used in the chopper, for a
generator rated 25 kW/50 kHz, is a Darlington whose structure is shown in Fig. 4. The transistors used are ISOTOP
packaged (Thomson) and water cooled.
Fig. 5 shows the experimental waveforms of the collector
current (lower trace) and collector-emiter voltage (upper
trace) for the chopper switch (Fig. 4).

B. Starter Circuit Description

This circuit limits the input current to the inverter when
inverter resonant frequency and drive frequencies are not the
same. This occurs during the generator starting phase as well
in case of short circuit in the load.
The power structure of this starter circuit can be seen in
Fig. 6, where the switch Q has the identical structure as the
chopper switch (Fig. 4). When the load resonant circuit and
inverter frequencies are not the same, the switch Q is cut off,
differences between one configuration and the other. Table I and the R resistor limits the current. When such frequencies
gives the advantages (+) and disadvantages ( - ) of both are the same, the switch Q is saturated, and there is no
current limit, apart from that imposed by the current regulacircuits.
tion circuit of logic control. The duty of capacitor C2 is to
IV.DESCRIPTION
OF POWER
SECTION
absorb the magnetic energy stored in the smoothing coils.
This capacitor is designed such that the maximum collecMaking a balance between the advantages and disadvantages of the two basic topologies and based on the type of tor-emitter voltage in the switch Q does not exceed 700 V in
application of those generators, we choose the parallel reso- the worst case.
nant inverter with a full bridge configuration. Fig. 2 shows
C. Inverter Description
the block diagram of the developed generator.
This structure is a complete bridge current-fed inverter. In
The practical implementation of Ql-Q4 is a switch bidirectional in voltage and unidirectional in current (Fig. 1). C Fig. 7, an inverter switch for the 25-kW/5O-kHz generator,
represents the compensation capacitor bank and L the heat- together with its switching aid network, is shown. The diode
in series with the transistors is necessary to block negative
ing inductor.
The generator consists of a complete noncontrolled recti- voltage between switch A-B poles. The driving circuit is
fied bridge to transform the three-phase current into dc, a optocoupled to the logic control due to the inverter structure
chopper to control the delivered power to the load, a starter itself (full-bridge inverter).
circuit whose duty is to limit current during the starting phase
PRocEss AND SwrrCHINGArDNETWoRKS
v.
of the generator, or in the case of a short circuit and a
The
purpose
of
the present section is to analyze the behavcurrent-fed transistorized bridge inverter, which transforms
the dc into a high-frequency current (up to 50 kHz), which ior of the inverter during the conmutation process, when 4
(phase-shift angle between output current and voltage) is
powers to the load consisting of a parallel resonant circuit.
w

'

DEDE et al.: 25-KW/SO-KHZGENERATOR FOR INDUCTION HEATING

205

UADOI
F.A.P.
: M A I 11/4/90

TRANSISTORIZED GENERATOR BLOCK DIAGRAM

IG.H.

: I

INDUSTRIAL S . k 1yi

DE
89.7511

Fig. 2. Parallel resonant inverter generator block diagram.

A=

10mV

0=

2 V 0.Ims

c1
u

1 1

Fig. 4. Chopper switch.

positive and when 4 is negative, with the aim of choosing the

best form of operation of the inverter.
The theoretical waveforms of the inverter are shown in
Fig. 8.
VQi is the voltage across the switch Qi,V, is the output
voltage, and IMF is the output current of the inverter.

RETURN
Fig. 5. Zc, V,, waveforms for chopper switch. Lower trace: I, (50
A/div); hpper trace: V,, (200 v/div); time scale: 0, 1 ms/div.

On the other hand, as

4 = a r g [ Z ( J w ) ] = (-)arctgQ(w/w,-

wo/w)

where Q is the Q factor of the resonant circuit and

w0 = 27rf0 = l / S Q R T ( L C )

206

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 38, NO. 3, JUNE 1991

Fig. 6. Starter circuit.

Fig. 9. Equivalent circuit during commutation when $J

< 0.

I LLI I

m
c

>

L
T *

I
I
I
I
I

I
I
I

I Q4

E
L

(c

(phase Lag)

# > 0 (phase Lead)

D1

VMF

= i Dl

B I
Fig. 7. Switch of inverter bridge with switching aid network.

# (0

I
I

I
1

II

I
1

I
I

TIT
T4

V Q 2 ! J q I n

v Q 2 , v 7 p v

Fig. 10. Switching process waveforms when $J

f

>

f,

<

< 0.

f,

Fig. 8. Inverter theoretical waveforms.

The equivalent circuit during the conmutation is given in

Fig. 9 (only one mesh is shown).
f > f O = * 4 = (-) = =. phaselag
At the moment at which the base signal of T1 goes to 0
and the signal of T4 goes to 1, the output capacitor
f < f , = * 4 = (+) =*phaselead.
voltage is positive (as is shown in Fig. 9). The switching
Therefore, to control the inverter with a lagging phase process waveforms can be seen in Fig. 10. L, represents the
angle, the frequency of the driving pulses Q and Q has to be parasitic wiring inductance.
higher than the resonant frequency of the load, and with a
Observe that the turn off of branch 1 does not depend on
leading phase angle, the frequency has to be lower than the the turn off of T1 but on the turn on of T4.
resonant circuit one.
The advantages ( ) and disadvantages ( - ) of the conmuThe sign of the phase-sift angle 4 has great repercussions tation process with 4 < 0 (f> f,) include the following:
on the conmutation process of the switches Ql-Q4 (Fig. 2),
(+) No conmutation losses at turn off
and consequently, on the kind of switching-aid network to be
( - ) conmutation losses at turn on
used.
(- ) recovery current from series diode
A . Conmutation Process with 4 < 0
(- ) choice of series diode
( - ) negative voltage in the series diode
Let us think that the frequency of the inverter is higher
( - ) a good layout is worsening the problem of the series
than the corresponding of the load. In this case, 4 is negadiode recovery (higher di / dt means higher I R R M )
tive.

results in

DEDE er al.: ZS-KW/SO-KHZ GENERATOR FOR INDUCTION HEATING

207

L
Fig. 11. Equivalent circuit during conmutation when

> 0.

Y--Qi L

( - ) possible problems in the control logic due to the turn

off of the series diode

( - ) EM1 and

$J

II

RFI interference problems.

To reduce the former problems a turn-on switching-aid

network that decreases the d i l d t of the turn on of T4, is
required consequently reducing the turn-off speed of D1.
However, magnetics, like saturable inductances, are generally not practical at high frequency.

B. Conmutation Process with t$ > 0

In this case, the frequency of the inverter must be lower

than the load resonant frequency. The equivalent circuit (one

mesh) during the conmutation is shown in Fig. 11.
When Q goes to 0 and goes to 1, the polarity of
the voltage in the output capacitor is shown in Fig. 11. Note
that the conmutation process is, for this case, controlled by
the turn off of T1. Only when T1 is switched off, 0 4 can
begin to conduct. Now, the series diode is cut off by a
positive voltage (directly polarized), and therefore, there are
no recovery problems in the series diode.
The switching process waveforms can be seen in Fig. 12.
The advantages ( ) and disadvantages ( - ) of the conmutation process with t$ > 0 include the following:

-L

I
I

I
I

I
I

I
I
I

I
I
I

(+ ) No losses at turn on
(+ ) no recovery current in the series diode. This is very
(- )
(-)
( -)

Fig. 12. Switching process waveforms when 6 > 0.

important fact when working at high frequencies.

losses at turn off
voltage peak across T1
layout must be good.

A=

10

B=

5us

Making a balance of the conmutation process with t$ > 0

and t$ < 0 it results that for higher frequencies, it is more
suitable to work with a leading phase angle (4 > 0). That
means that the inverter frequency must be kept lower than the
resonant load frequency. In this case, the switching-aid networks must be turn-off switching-aid networks.
Fig. 13 shows the V,, and Vce wave forms for the inverter
switch.
Fig. 14 shows the collector current IC and the voltage VQj
across on switch Qj.
VI. DESCRIPTION
OF THE CONTROL
LOGIC
CONVERTER

V
OF THE

The block diagram of the control circuit for the inverter is

shown in Fig. 15.

RETURN

Fig., 13. V,, and V,, waveforms for the inverter switch. Lower trace: V,,
(10 V/div); upper trace: V,, (200 V/div); time scale: 5 psldiv.

208

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 38, NO. 3, JUNE 1991

A=O. 1 V

8-

5us

RETURN

Fig. 14.

INTEGRATOR

Zc and VQj waveforms. Lower trace: Zc (50 A/div); upper trace:

Vaj (200 v/div); time scale: 5 ps/div.

v c o

S
-

COMPENSATOG-

S1
- MODULE

AND

PWASE-SIUFT

- DETECTOR
AMjlESIGNUs

rlL

VMF

zERo-cRG

vMFNL

-316
MPD

COMPARATOR

-Qcc

R-S

-Q

BIESTABLE

-Q

Fig. 15. Block diagram of the inverter control circuit.

Let us omit for a moment the time-compensation circuit,

which will be explained later, so that we can presume
S = S1. The basic circuit consists of a VCO oscillator controlled by an integrator. This one is controlled by the signal
SIG in such a way that when the phase-shift between the
pulses S and V
, is negative (inverter frequency higher than
the load resonance frequency), the signal SIG is 1, and a
rising slope is generated at the output of the integrator, which
makes the VCO frequency decrease.
On the other hand, if the phase shift between S and VMF is
positive (inverter frequency lower than the load resonance
frequency), the signal SIG is 0 and generates a decreasing
slope at the output of the intregator, consequently increasing
the VCO frequency. Obviously, the balance is established
when the pulses S and VMF are in phase.
This would be totally right if there were no delay between
S and the real activating pulses of the inverter transistors. In
the real circuit, this delay always exists and makes the output
current lag behind the output voltage (4 > 0). Obviously,
this effect tends to increase as the frequency does.
The time-compensation circuit works in such a way that
the puses S1 (which are the phase-comparator pulses) are

delayed with respect to the driving pulses S . In the steady

, is in phase with the pulses S1. Because
state, the signal V
the pulses S lead the pulses S1 by AT, with a well adjusted
AT, we obtain a compensation of the phase-shift A 4 produced by the wiring, switching time of the transistors, logic
delays, etc.
VII. CONCLUSIONS

The paper presents a medium power converter designed

for high-frequency induction heating applications.
The inverter bridge, implemented with bipolar transistors
in a Darlington configuration, can work at frequencies of up
to 50 IrHz. The inverter is controlled by an automatic tracking circuit, which means that resonant and inverter frequencies are almost the same at every moment. The power
delivered to the load is regulated by a feedback loop that
controls the duty cycle of the input chopper.
REFERENCES
[l] W. E. Frank and C. F. Der, Solid state RF generators for induction
heating applications, in Proc. ZEEE-ZAS, 1982, pp. 939-944.
[2] D. Naunapper and H. J. Eckhardt, Power MOSFETS, thyristors and

DEDE et al.: 25-KW/5O-KHZ GENERATOR FOR INDUCTION HEATING

transmitting tubes in converters for hardening, in Proc. PCIM

Conf.,1989.
[3] J. Nuns, Transistors are replacing valves in induction heating generators,in Proc. EPE Conf., 1987.
141 L. Malesani and P. Tenti, Medium frequency GTO inverter for
induction heating applications, in Proc. EPE Conf.,1987.
[5] D. Tebb, An induckion heating power supply using high voltage
MOSFETS, in Proc. PCIMConf., 1987.
[6] F. Z.Peng, H. Akagi and A. Nabae, High current source inverters
using SiTh for induction heating applications, in Proc. IEEE-IAS
Conf., 1987.

209

[7] L. Hobson, D. Tebb and C. Pudney, A current fed inverter with

inherent short circuit protection and suppression ringing, Znt. J .
Electron. vol. 60,no. 4, 1986.
[8] L. Hobson and D. Tebb, Transistorized power supplies for induction heating, Int. J . Electron., vol. 59, no. 5, 1985.
[9] J. M. Peter, The power transistor and its environment, Thomson

Semicond., 1979.

[lo] -,

Transistors and diodes in power processing, Thomson

Semicond.. 1985.