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30 kVA Induction Heater

by bwang on July 18, 2011

Table of Contents
30 kVA Induction Heater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Intro: 30 kVA Induction Heater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 1: Bill of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 2: Words of Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 3: Principle of Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 4: Construction: Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 5: The Inverter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 6: Work Coil/Tank Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 7: Testing and Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Intro: 30 kVA Induction Heater

Induction heaters are used to heat conductive materials in a non-contact process. Commercially, they are used for heat treating, brazing, soldering, etc., as well as to
melt and forge iron, steel, and aluminum.
This Instructable will walk you through the construction of a high-power (30kVA) heater, suitable for melting aluminum and steel. Note that to take full advantage of this
design, you will need a 220V outlet, at least a 50A single-phase one and preferably a 50A or 60A 3-phase outlet.
WARNINGS
This project uses mains voltage. While well-behaved, 110/220 mains can seriously injure, maim, and/or kill you if used improperly.
The voltage across the tank capacitor can potentially ring up to hundreds of volts. Don't let the 20:1 step-down ratio fool you!
When scoping the circuit, beware of ground loops.
The work piece, naturally, can get very hot. DO NOT TOUCH! Less obviously, do not rapidly quench the work piece with water, as this can lead to dangerous
sputtering.
This project uses power electronics. Under fault conditions, semiconductor devices used in this project may rapidly heat, vent, and/or release rapidly moving
shrapnel. Shield appropriately.
WIth that said and done, let us move on.

Image Notes
1. Stack of four cores

Image Notes
1. monitor the input current

Image Notes
1. Input rectifier
2. Logic/Gate drive
3. Inverter
4. Input capacitor
5. Coupling transformer
6. Tank capacitor

http://www.instructables.com/id/30-kVA-Induction-Heater/

Image Notes
1. Solder to the ends of the work-coil tubing
2. Toroid clamp

Step 1: Bill of Materials

For this build, you will need:
2 IGBT half-bridge modules. I used Powerex CM400DU-12F 400A 600V Dual IGBTs; anything of similar power handling and switching speed should work. These
can be purchased as cheap surplus from Ebay.
4 MOSFETs or IGBTs for the gate drive. I used HGTG30N60B3D's, which are way overkill for the application. They need to be able to dissipate about 30W
without burning up.
2 gate drive IC's, of at least 9A peak current capability. I use the UCC37322 from TI.
2 ferrite toroids. These are your gate drive transformers, and should be able to pass a reasonably clean square wave at 50 kHz. Magnetics, Inc. and TSC Ferrite
International are good manufacturers, or you can salvage them from old CRTs or switching power supplies. The powered iron cores from ATX supplies rarely
work.
Large ferrite toroids for the toroidial coupling transfromer.
1 TL494 PWM IC.
1 at least 20 uF, at least 20V film or ceramic capacitor.
Assorted resistors, capacitors, and potentiometers for the driver.
10' of 1/4" soft copper refrigeration tubing.
A water block capable of accommodating the two IGBTs. A large heatsink may also work, but I haven't tried.
2 aluminum or copper bars, ~3/4"x8"
2 1/4" compression unions
A 4-position rotary contactor, good for several tens of amps.
A screw-terminal electrolytic capacitor of reasonable quality. I recommend at least a few hundred uF for 3-phase operation.
A high-quality, low inductance snubber capacitor for the bridge. Ebay has cute brick-mount 20 uF blocks for $5.
One or more high-quality polypropylene capacitors for the tank capacitor. More on this part later.
An analog current meter good for several tens of amps.
A 3-phase bridge rectifier (or single-phase if you are willing to settle for single-phase operation only).
A suitable project case and associated hardware (3-phase breaker, cord, plug, etc).
A water pump capable of a couple GPM
Tubing appropriate for hooking up the water-cooling.
A Variac for testing.

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Image Notes
1. Input rectifier
2. Logic/Gate drive
3. Inverter
4. Input capacitor
5. Coupling transformer
6. Tank capacitor

Step 2: Words of Wisdom

The IGBTs : or "bricks", as we like to call them. They should be good for 600V (not a concern, I've never seen a brick rated under that before), at least 200A (I use 400A
modules to be, safe), and more importantly, need to be fast. This is where you need to check the datasheet - IGBTs have an inherently long turn-off delay. For 65 kHz
operation, rise time + turn-on delay + turn-off delay + fall time should be under 2 uS.
Bricks come in several types: single-transistor, dual transistor, 6-pack, and some rarer types such as chopper modules. Single-transistor modules are prevalent for 1200V
and larger IGBTs, and have the highest thermal ratings and are the most difficult to mount. Duals (half-bridge modules) are the much easier to mount and can dissipate
less. They are most common for 600V modules. 6-packs are used for 3-phase inverters, require no external power connections, and have the lowest thermal ratings.
Use what you see fit; this tutorial uses half-bridge modules.
The tank capacitor : is very very important. It handles tremendous amounts of reactive power at very high frequencies. It is absolutely essential that this part be selected
appropriately. It must be a high-quality polypropylene or mica capacitor. I use giant snubber capacitors made by Eurofarad; alternatively, a series/parallel array of
smaller capacitors (such as the Tesla coiler's beloved CDE942 series) should work. The ultimate capacitor, of course, is a water or conduction-cooled unit made by
Celem, but such caps will run you about $150 for a 2 uF unit. You want enough capacitance to resonate with your work coil at no more than 70 kHz.

http://www.instructables.com/id/30-kVA-Induction-Heater/

Step 3: Principle of Operation

Induction heaters function by surrounding the work piece with a coil carrying a high-frequency (kHz to low MHz) alternating current. This induces eddy currents in the
work piece, which acts as a shorted 1-turn transformer secondary. The currents can be tremendous, on the order of several thousands of amps. This causes high I^2R
losses in the work piece, heating it.
Schematic Description
Note: Ignore the transistor model numbers; I just used what Eagle had built in.
IC1 is a TL494 acting as an oscillator with adjustable dead time and frequency. The output is fed into the input of two UCC37322 9A gate drive ICs, which "beef up" the
signal into something capable of driving high-capacitance transistor gates. The output signal is passed through C5 to insure only the AC component reaches GDT1, a
gate drive transformer. This transformer provides the electrical isolation necessary to drive Q1 through Q4, which form a full-bridge. This intermediate bridge is necessary
to provide the high average power necessary to drive Q5 through Q8, a full-bridge of large IGBT modules.
This bridge forms the main inverter. The output of this inverter is stepped down through a 20:1 torodial transformer TR_MATCH, which provides impedance matching as
well as isolation for L_WORK, the work coil inductor. The capacitor C_TANK forms a resonant LC circuit with L_WORK; when driven at resonance, this circuit displays
zero reactive impedance to the inverter, allowing for higher powers and minimizing switching losses in the inverter.

Image Notes
1. Schematic

Step 4: Construction: Controller

Construct the logic circuit as you wish, either by using the attached images to make boards or using perfboard or a breadboard.
The gate drive transformers must be able to pass a high-quality square wave at your operating frequency. To check this, wind 10+10 turns on the toroid, connect one set
of windings to a signal generator, and scope across the other. The output should look like a reasonable square wave.
The GDT should be wound with 5 twisted wires to minimize leakage inductance. Many people have had luck with using CAT5 cable, which comes pre-twisted.

http://www.instructables.com/id/30-kVA-Induction-Heater/

Step 5: The Inverter

The inverter should be very well-cooled, either with a large heatsink or a waterblock. I used a waterblock for compactness and robustness; but a big (think 12"x12"x3"
with several hundred CFM of forced-air cooling) should work too. The pump should be relatively large to handle the pressure drop through the work coil (mine was rated
for 2GPM).
The main filtering capacitors should be placed close to the bridge itself, preferably bolted across the busbars. You should also use a snubber capacitor (the black box in
the picture) placed directly across the transistors to reduce voltage spikes caused by excitation of the parasitic inductances in the inverter layout.
Using half-bridge or six-pack modules is the easiest way to buld the inverter; a bridge of single transistors will require access to a machine shop to do right.

Image Notes
1. Snubber

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Step 6: Work Coil/Tank Circuit

The coupling transformer should be toroidal. Wind ~20t around some large ferrite cores (I was using a stack of 4 ~4"x1" cores).
The tank capacitor will get warm. It should have significant terminal area to conduct both heat and thousands of amps. If you are using a MMC of small capacitors, solder
them individually to large copper plates. If you are using a Celem or a giant snubber, bolt large copper plates to the terminals. Then in either case, solder the terminals to
the copper tubing that forms the rest of the tank circuit.
Attach the work coil to the tank circuit using compression fittings; this allows you to change work coils to accommodate different loads.
Make the work coil out of at least 1/4" copper tubing. Thicker tubing is less lossy, but harder to handle; trade-off between the two as you see fit. When winding the work
coil, it helps to fill it with sand to prevent the tubing from collapsing. As a rule of thumb, the resistance of 1' diameter copper tubing at 65 KHz is 0.8 m?/m; that is, to
compute the resistance of your secondary, multiply 0.8 m? by its length and divide by its diameter in inches.

Image Notes
1. Solder to the ends of the work-coil tubing
2. Toroid clamp

Image Notes
1. Stack of four cores

Step 7: Testing and Usage

Assemble everything according to the schematic. Use a current transformer on the primary side (100t burdened with a couple ohms around a ferrite toroid will do) to
monitor the waveforms.
Using a current-limited bench supply (preferably 30V, 10A), slowly ramp up the voltage until enough current is drawn to give a clear reading on the 'scope. Adjust the
frequency pot until the waveform is a clean sinewave, and current draw is maximized (you may have to search a little to avoid harmonics). If you don't have a scope, just
tune until current is maximized (mine drew something like 40A at 200VDC on the bus, unloaded).
With ~30V on the bus, load the work coil with a bolt. At a few hundred watts in, it should get hot within a couple minutes. If it draws power, but the workpiece doesn't get
hot, check the transistors for heating. If they get excessively hot, your bridge is shooting through.
If all is well at low powers, you are ready for a high-power test. Use your favorite DC source (single phase, three-phase, smoothed, unsmoothed, etc - it doesn't really
matter) to power the bridge. Preferably, use a Variac, in case it draws too much current (you can predict current draw from the low-power tests by noting that the heater is
a fairly linear load). Don't forget water cooling!
At a few kilowatts, without a crucible, you can melt aluminum and copper and make steel orange-hot. 10 KW+ (50A dryer/stove line or 3-phase) is necessary to melt steel
in open air. A crucible helps a lot.
You can control power by very slightly detuning the inverter, or by changing the bus voltage, or by tapping the matching transformer. The latter is a recommended feature,
and steel and copper have very different effective "resistances".
Good luck, and have fun!

Image Notes
1. monitor the input current

http://www.instructables.com/id/30-kVA-Induction-Heater/

Image Notes
1. a variac

Image Notes
1. alligator-clipped lashup

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