Three-Phase Integrated PFC AC-AC Half-Bridge Boost Rectifier and Class D

Resonant Inverter with Weak Coupled Coils for Induction Heating Application

Abstract

This paper presents a three-phase integrated PFC AC-AC resonant inverter with boost effect for Induction

Heating (IH) Application. This converter is composed by three independent resonant inverters with non-smoothed

DC link that achieve high power factor operation. The magnetic coupling of the three coils was modeled using the

impedance matrix for characterizing the resonant behavior of the arrangement. Experimental results validate the

modes of operation with ZVS and the converter performance in the entire power input range (PF and THD).

I. Introduction

Induction heating is the result of a set of electromagnetic phenomena, mainly based on the principles of Faraday’s

laws and Joule heating effect, that allows to heat a piece of metal. Some conventionals IH systems, for heating fluids,

are depicteds in Fig. 1(a)-(d) and are composed by: a stainless steel workpiece to be heated, a coil for generating a high-

frequency magnetic field, and a ferrite support for increasing the magnetic coupling between the workpiece and the coil.

In Fig. 1(e), Lo and Ro represent the self-inductance and the resistance of the coil, respectively; M corresponds to the

mutual inductance between workpiece and coil; Ll denotes the self-inductance of workpiece and Rl stands for the Joule

losses. Finally, a simplified model of the system is illustrated in Fig. 1(f), composed by an equivalent inductor and

resistor, Leq and Req . These two parameters vary by different factors such as: separation between workpiece and coil,

workpiece material properties and geometric characteristics, and specially operating frequency. Non-linear behavior,

for cooking application, of Leq and Req as a function of frequency were analytically calculated and experimentally

validated in [1]. A representative circuit model for behavior characterizing is introduced in Fig. 1(g) [2].

Coil Workpiece io
io il io
M Leq (! )
vo vo Rb Lc Rc
vo Lo Ll vl Rl
R eq ( ! ) Ra La Lb
Ro

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g)

Fig. 1. Workpieces geometries for heating fluids (a), (b) and (c) presented in [3]; (d) adaptaded from [4]; (e) magnetic
model; (f) equivalent circuit and (g) frequency response equivalent network for induction heating systems.

Typically, single-phase IH systems are used for domestic applications such as cooking heater. It is a reasonable

choose since the cost and power level are low. However, it is not enough for industrial applications (metallic quenching

and super heated steamer), then three-phase are preferred regarding that unitary power factor and low harmonic are

required. In [5], a three-phase 5 kW system consisting of three individual single-phase direct UFAC-HFAC units was

introduced. The three coils are arranged in Y-connection. The active switches (half- bridge configuration) operate

with fixed frequency and asymmetric PWM for achieving ZVS-ZCS turn on and ZVS turn off. In [6], the authors

also adopted a three single-phase single-stage approach with single coil and parallel output connection, for reducing

ostensibly the thermal requirements. The output power control is based on PWM and utility frequency PDM (Pulse

Density Modulation) and allows extended soft-switching region (ZVS-ZVS turn on and reduced voltage turn off).

The dual control allows high efficient operation (over 93%) for the entire power range. Notwithstanding, single-
 High Temperature
DH 1 Qr1 Non-Magnetic
vg 1 CH 1 Stainless
ig1 Lg1 Cr1 Coil 1 Coil 1 Workpiece 1
ir1
+
vo1 Heat Shield ir1 il1
Material
DL1 Qr1 vab1 CL1
v1 L1 Ll1 vl1 Rl1
Coil 1
R1
DH 2 Qr 2 Coil 2 Workpiece 2
vg 2 CH 2
ig 2 Lg 2 ir 2 Cr 2 Coil 2 ir 2 il 2
n n vo 2
+

Qr 2 CL 2 Coil 2 v2 L2 Ll 2 vl 2 Rl 2
DL 2 vab 2
R2

Coil 3 Workpiece 3
DH 3 Qr 3
vg 3 CH 3
ig 3 Lg 3 ir 3 Cr 3 Coil 3 Coil 3 R3
+
vo 3 v3 L3 Ll 3 vl 3 Rl 3

DL 3 Qr 3 vab 3 CL 3
Low Temperature ir 3 il 3
(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 2. Proposed three phase structure for heating fluids: (a) converter; (b) coils structure and (c) magnetic model.

stage systems are preferred because of higher performance, multi-stage systems (uncontrolled rectifier plus smoothing

capacitor) could be found in academic developments [7]. However, real availability is null since they inherently present

high harmonic distortion at the input, high size, low efficiency and reliability.

In this paper, a 4.3 kW three-phase integrated PFC AC-AC resonant inverter with boost effect for Induction

Heating (IH) Application is proposed. The system utilizes a three-single units approach (converter and coil) with

switching frequency output power control. Soft-switching operation is guaranteed under wide load conditions.

II. Multiple Coupled Coil in IH System

IH systems with n-coils structure are represented by a impedance Z(ω) matrix of n × n elements, where the

diagonal components represent self inductance and coils resistance, and the non-diagonal components are associated

with the electromagnetic coupling between coils [2,8]. The relationship between impedance matrix, Z(ω), coils currents,

In (ω), and coils voltages, Vn (ω), written by Vn (ω) = Z(ω) · In (ω), can be expressed in matrix form as follows :

    
V
 1 (ω)   Z11 (ω) Z12 (ω) . . . Z1n (ω)   I1 (ω) 
    
    
 V2 (ω)   Z21 (ω) Z22 (ω) . . . Z2n (ω)   I2 (ω) 
= (1)
    
.. .. .. .. .. ..
  
.
    

 .  
  . . . 
 . 

    
Vn (ω) Zn1 (ω) Zn2 (ω) . . . Znn (ω) In (ω)

In this paper, the system is expressed by a 3 × 3 impedance matrix, and 3 × 1 voltage and current vectors, Eq.

(2). The coil arrangement under study in this paper is illustrated in Fig. 2(b), and its correspondent magnetic model

shown in Fig. 2(c). The coupled system can be represented by the equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 3, with dependent

voltages and currents sources, and the respective impedance elements values.
     
 V1 (ω)   Z11 (ω) Z12 (ω) Z13 (ω)   I1 (ω) 
    
 V2 (ω)  =  Z12 (ω) Z22 (ω) Z23 (ω)   I2 (ω) (2)
    

    
    
V3 (ω) Z13 (ω) Z23 (ω) Z33 (ω) I3 (ω)

V 21 (! ) V12 (! ) V13 (! )
The mutual coupling between the coils induces an
Z 21 (! ) Z12 (! ) Z13 (! )
electromotive force, which interfere in the resonant tanks I1 (! ) I 2 (! ) I3 ( ! )
V31 (! ) V32 (! ) V 23 (! )

current control and soft switching operation of the con- Z31 (! ) Z32 (! ) Z 23 (! )

verter [9]. Therefore, small mutual inductance values are I1 (! ) V12 (! ) I 2 (! ) V 21 (! ) I3 (! ) V31 (! )
+ - + - + -
desired. Otherwise, a technique to minimize this effect V1 (! ) Z11 (! ) V 2 (! ) Z 22 (! ) V3 (! ) Z33 (! )

should be applied. As depicted in Fig. 2, the physical - + - + - +

V13 (! ) V 23 (! ) V32 (! )
coil arrangement is not symmetrical, then different mu-

tual inductance are expected. This characteristic leads to Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit for three coil matrix, Eq. 2.

different dynamic behavior of resonant current and switch

current stress. For avoiding this undesired effect, toroidal and symmetrical structures are preferred, however the

system cost increase significantly [10].

III. Proposed Converter Analysis

The proposed three-phase converter is presented in Fig. 2(a). Each single AC/AC converter, initially proposed

in [11] for electronic ballast, and later adapted to IH application in [12], is based on integration of Half-Bridge Boost

rectifier, with naturally PFC operation due the non-smoothed DC link, and a class D resonant inverter. The boost

effect is obtained by high frequency switched operation across input inductor Lgx , where x = 1, 2, 3 represents the

respective grid phase, and the non-smoothed DC link (a small high-frequency filter capacitor) composed by CHx and

CLx , where it is interesting to be of the same value to obtain similar resonance at all stages of operation. Each resonant

tank consists of a resonant capacitor Crx and the inductive element of the coil. The latter is disposed between a half

bridge output (Qrx -Qrx ) and the correspondent DC link middle point. ZVS operation is obtained for the half bridge

switches since the converter operates at the inductive region.

A. Single AC-AC Resonant Inverter Operation

In this paper the duty cycle (D) is fixed in 0.5, with dead time (td ) interval, and the power control is implemented

switching frequency fs variation. The duty cycle control can be utilized, nevertheless the input voltage polarity

identification is required for correct operation, which increases the cost of the prototype and the complexity of the

control.

The main current waveforms of the single converter are presented in Fig. 4(a) and (b), to vg1 positive semi cycle

and negative semi cycle respectively. The converter operation is defined in four stages as depicted in Fig. 5(a)-(d) and

5(e)-(h). They are valid when the couplings among the coils do not interfer with the operation of the other phases,

and when the ripple current in boost inductor Lg1 is very small.

The positive semi cycle operation is described as follows:

• Stage I [t0 -t1 ]: ir1 is positive according with the convention assumed in Fig. 2(a), then Qr1 is conducting the input
 iLg1 iLg1

DH 1 Qr1 DH 1 Qr1
CH 1 CH 1
Lg1 Cr1 Coil 1 Lg1 Cr1 Coil 1
ir1 ir1

+
vg1 DL1 Qr1 CL1 vg1 DL1 Qr1 CL1

td td (a) (b)
Qr1 Qr1

Qr1 Qr1 DH 1 Qr1 DH 1 Qr1

CH 1 CH 1
Lg1 Cr1 Coil 1 Lg1 Cr1 Coil 1
iQr1 iQr1

+
vg1 DL1 Qr1 CL1 vg1 DL1 Qr1 CL1

iQr1
iQr1
(c) (d)

ir1 ir1 DH 1 Qr1

CH 1
DH 1 Qr1
CH 1
Lg1 Cr1 Coil 1 Lg1 Cr1 Coil 1

vg1 DL1 Qr1 CL1 vg1 DL1 Qr1 CL1

iCH 1

+
iCH 1
(e) (f)

iCL1 iCL1
DH 1 Qr1 DH 1 Qr1
CH 1 CH 1
Lg1 Cr1 Coil 1 Lg1 Cr1 Coil 1

vg1 DL1 Qr1 CL1 vg1 DL1 Qr1 CL1

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
+

+
t0 t1 t2 t3 Ts t0 t1 t2 t3 Ts
(g) (h)
(a) (b)

Fig. 4. Main currents waveforms in a ZVS oper- Fig. 5. Typical operation stages. (a), (b), (c) and (d)
ation of the proposed converter (a) positive input Stages I-IV for positive input semi cycle. (e), (f), (g) and
semi cycle (b)negative input semi cycle. (h) Stages I-IV for negative input semi cycle.

current plus the resonant current, where the input inductor is in a charger stage by network vg1 −Lg1 −Qr1 −DH1 ,

and the resonance occurs among Cr1 − Z11 − CH1 .

• Stage II [t1 -t2 ]: Qr1 is blocked at t1 , due to the current direction at the center point of the half-bridge, the

anti-parallel diode of Qr1 is naturally forward biased for posterior Qr1 ZVS turn-on. During this interval, the

gate signal is supplied to Qr1 . The inductor Lg1 is discharged in capacitors CH1 and CL1 .

• Stage III [t2 -t3 ]: ir1 plus input current becomes negative value and commutates naturally Qr1 , which achieves

ZVS turn-on.

• Stage IV [t3 -t4 ]: Qr1 is blocked at t3 , due to the current direction at the center point of the half-bridge, the

anti-parallel diode of Qr1 is naturally forward biased for posterior Qr1 ZVS turn-on, in stage I operation.

As observed in the operation stages, and the current waveforms, to archive ZVS operation is necessary that the

switching frequency must be greater than the resonant frequency, this is due the integration of rectifier and resonant

converter. Another converter operation considerations will be presented in final version.

IV. Experimental Results - Design of coils structure and Converter Performance

The lateral view of the proposed magnetic structure is illustrated in Fig. 6, and experimental structure is presented

in Fig. 7(a). The structure main dimensions are: h32 = 86 mm, h21 = 260 mm, h22 = 346 mm, h11 = 408 mm,

h12 = 494 mm and rc = 44 mm. The experimental resistance and inductance of the proposed magnetic structure as

frequency function will be presented in final version.

 êz
The proposed converter specifications are: nominal power, Pox = êr

1.4 kW; supply voltage, 127 V/60 Hz; switching frequency, fs = 32 −

45 kHz; input filter inductor, Lgx = 2.0 mH; dc-link capacitors, CHx = ir1
z = h12
CLx = 2 µF; resonant capacitor, Crx = 220 nF; coils self equivalent induc- z = h11
ir 2
tances, L11 = 143 µH, L22 = 143 µH, L33 = 143 µH; coupled inductances, z = h22
z = h21
L12 = 1.5 µH, L13 = 0.04 µH, L23 = 1.5 µH; coils self equivalent re- ir 3
z = h32
sistances, R11 = 2.4 Ω, R22 = 2.4 Ω, R33 = 2.4 Ω (very small coupling
z=0
resistors to be considered); IRGP4068D IGBTs; and STTH6012 diodes.

The coils parameters were measured at 32 kHz.

r = rc
In Fig. 8(a), the input phase currents are compared using as reference
Fig. 6. Coils structure setup.
the input voltage at phase 1. The zero crossing regions are affected by the

induced voltages between the coils, which are higher than the input voltage

and, therefore, the rectifier diodes do not polarize directly as shown in Fig. 8(b). The input current harmonics are

presented in Fig. 8(c) and it is confirmed that the converter complies with IEC61000-3-2.

The resonant phase currents are shown in Fig. 9. The ZVS operation for the resonant currents was corroborated

considering the gate signal Qr1 .

In Fig. 10(a), the input power characteristic is similar to Series Resonant Converter as expected. The converter

operated at high power factor at the whole power range as depicted in Fig. 10(b). The THD performance at each

phase is compared in Fig. 10(c). The THD at phase 2 is strongly influenced by the other phases since it is in the

middle of the remaining coils.

DC link capacitors
Input Filter
Grid connection
Coil 2

Coil 1 Neutral
Point
Resonant
Coil 3 Capacitor

Coil connection
Drivers terminals
(a) (b)

Fig. 7. Experimental setup: (a) coils structure, and (b) converter prototype.

V. Conclusion

The proposed three-phase integrated PFC AC-AC resonant converter with boost effect for IH application is

composed by three individual series resonant half bridge inverters. The modes of operation were presented considering

the ZVS operation for non coupled coils. Afterwards, the resonant currents were evaluated considering the influence

of the mutual inductance of the coils. A 4.3 kW prototype was built for validating different converter performance

parameters as PF and THD for each phase and the ZVS operation.
 1
10 ig1

Input Harmonic Currents (A)

ig2
0
ig3
10

-1
10

vo1 vo 3 vo 2 -2
10
v g1 ig1 ig 2 ig 3
-3
10

-4
10
1 10 20 30 40
Harmonic Order
(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 8. Experimental results to: (a) input currents, (b) voltages in non-smoothed dc-links, and (c) input current
harmonics.

ir 3 ir 2 ir1 ir 3 ir 2 ir1
ir 3 ir 2 ir1

ir 2 ir 2 ir 2
ir1 ir1 ir1 i
ir 3 ir 3 r3

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 9. Resonant phase currents for different operation conditions. (a) f s = 45kHz. (b) f s = 38kHz. (c) f s = 32kHz.

5000 1 14 ig1
Pg1
Pg2 0.995 12 ig2
4000
Pg3 ig3
THD [%]

0.99 10
Pin [w]

Pgt
3000
PF

0.985 8
2000
0.98 g1
6
1000 0.975 g2 4
g3
0 0.97 2
32 34 36 38 40 42 44 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
fs [kHz] Pin [w] Pin [w]
(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 10. Experimental results. (a) Individual phase power and total power. (b) Power factor as function of input
power. (c) THD as function of input power.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and

Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).

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