996 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 12, NO.

5, MAY 2012

Inductive Sensor for Temperature Measurement in

Induction Heating Applications
Carlos Franco, Student Member, IEEE, Jesús Acero, Member, IEEE, Rafael Alonso, Carlos Sagüés, Member, IEEE,
and David Paesa, Student Member, IEEE

Abstract—A new inductive sensor for temperature measure-

ment in domestic induction hobs and results of its applications
are presented. It consists of a coil and a resonant electronic circuit
which measures the impedance variation of ferromagnetic pots
when their temperature changes. This sensor has promising appli-
cability in induction hobs because it has instantaneous response, it
is cheap, and contactless. The performance of the sensor is tested
in the cooking range from 20 C to 220 C with pots of different
materials, revealing a measurement error lower than 6 C. This
error is much lower than that obtained from measurements with
current sensing systems installed in induction hobs, namely a
thermistor measuring the temperature of the glass in the cooking
zone. The proposed sensor will allow fire prevention in cooking
processes with a cost comparable to that of conventional measure-
ment systems.
Fig. 1. Scheme of the main blocks of an induction hob.
Index Terms—Induction hob, inductive sensor, temperature
sensor.

consist mainly of a temperature sensor and a control unit that,

I. INTRODUCTION roughly speaking, cuts the power when the temperature is too

D OMESTIC induction cookers consist mainly of a power
electronics circuit, a planar spiral coil (inductor), and a
ceramic glass (Fig. 1). Usually, flux concentrators (ferrite bars)
are placed under the windings in order to improve the coupling
between the pot and the coil. The power electronic circuit feeds
the inductor, a Litz wire coil, with high frequency currents that
generate a variable magnetic field. This magnetic field heats
up any ferromagnetic pot placed on the ceramic glass through
two physical phenomena: Foucault currents and magnetic hys-
teresis. A complete compilation of recent research related to in-
duction hobs can be consulted in [1].
In cooking processes it is important to keep the temperature
of the pot in a safe range in order to avoid fire. Although users
have always had to take care to avoid fire, due to distractions
or inexperience, many kitchen fires have occurred causing nu-
merous casualties and damage to property. For example, ac-
cording to [2], in 2005 there were 11000 chip pan fires causing
4000 injuries and 30 fatalities in the UK. In recent years, man-
ufacturers have started to introduce safety systems in hobs that
Manuscript received April 14, 2011; revised July 05, 2011; accepted August
25, 2011. Date of publication September 22, 2011; date of current version April
06, 2012. This work was supported in part by DGA project PI065/09 and in part
by BSH Home Appliances Group. The associate editor coordinating the review
of this paper and approving it for publication was Prof. Okyay Kaynak.
The authors are with the Instituto de Investigación en Ingeniería de Aragón
(I3A), Universidad de Zaragoza, Mariano Esquillor s/n, 50018, Zaragoza,
Spain (e-mail: cfranco@unizar.es; jacero@unizar.es; ralonso@unizar.es;
csagues@unizar.es; dpaesa@unizar.es).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSEN.2011.2167226
high. The most challenging task in the development of these
safety systems is to obtain a precise temperature measurement.
In spite of the fact that the best measurement would be obtained
placing a sensor in the pot as in [3], this is not ergonomic for
users and for a widespread use of these safety systems, sensors
must be integrated in the hob.
Lately, the development of new sensors with improved capa-
bilities has made possible sensing in almost all applications. For
example, in [4], a fiber-optic sensor based on modal interferom-
etry was used to sense temperatures up to 850 C with a simple
configuration, while in [5] a multiplexed fiber-optic sensor was
designed to measure the temperature and pressure of oil in down
holes (18 C to 300 C and 0 MPa to 30 MPa). In spite of these
advances, there is no definitive sensor to measure the tempera-
ture in cookers, particularly in induction hobs.
The most common way of determining the temperature of
pots for safety purposes in induction hobs is placing a thermistor
below the ceramic glass. This technique has even been used for
control purposes [6]. As the cooker heats up the base of the pot
directly through variable magnetic fields, the pot is the hottest
part in the hob and the thermistor is not disturbed by other heat
sources. However, the measurement obtained is the glass tem-
perature and not exactly the pot temperature, which is filtered.
Furthermore, the behaviour of the filter caused by the glass dif-
fers (with different time constants and gains) depending on the
measurement point of the cooking zone, and the position and
shape of the base of the pot. Consequently, the behaviour of the
sensor is variable and uncertain, requiring the introduction of
mathematical models and robust estimation algorithms to ob-
tain an approximation of the pot temperature. This is a complex
process.

1530-437X/$26.00 © 2011 IEEE

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FRANCO et al.: INDUCTIVE SENSOR FOR TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT IN INDUCTION HEATING APPLICATIONS
Another possibility to obtain the temperature is the use of
noncontact sensors. To date, the most extensively explored pos-
sibility has been infrared sensors. This kind of sensor provides
noncontact and instantaneous measurement, offering numerous
possibilities. They have been used over the ceramic glass in ra-
diant [7] and induction hobs [8] to measure the temperature of
the wall of saucepans in high load cooking processes. However,
in frying processes it is necessary to register the temperature
of the base of the pot. Infrared sensors thus need to be placed
below the surface of the glass, which generates some difficul-
ties. The measurement depends on the pot emissivity, and on the
absorbance and reflectance of the glass that might vary with the
use. Furthermore, compared with thermistors, such sensors are
expensive and consequently not very common.
In this paper a new temperature sensor for induction hobs is
presented [9], [10]. This sensor consists of a coil and an os-
cillator. It measures the variation of the impedance of the coil
placed below a ferromagnetic pot when its temperature changes.
This sensing method has promising applicability in induction
hobs because it is cheap, contactless, and has linear instanta-
neous response. The circuital scheme of the oscillator was taken
from [11], where it was used to measure the penetration depth of
currents in superconductors as a function of temperature. For its
part, the sensing coil is the same that heats up the pot on induc-
tion hobs and consequently no additional investment is needed.
The paper is organized as follows. Section II presents the
physical principles that allow the temperature measurement of
the pot. Section III is devoted to the design of the sensor and
Section IV to the design of the sensing circuit. Section V ex-
plains the calibration process and shows the setup. Section VI
presents application results in a real induction hob and finally in
Section VII the conclusions of the work are discussed.
II. BASIS OF THE SENSING COIL
As stated in the introduction, in order to measure the tem-
perature of the pot, an arrangement consisting of a coil and
an oscillator [11] (Fig. 2) is proposed. The sensing method
is based on the dependence of the electrical conductivity of
the material of the pot with respect to its temperature. Nowa-
days, iron is the most common material used to manufacture
suitable pots for induction cookers. Although the magnetic
permeability of iron also depends on the temperature, this
dependence is not determinant unless the Curie temperature of
the material is reached [12]. Thus, for the considered temper-
ature span (20 C–220 C), the magnetic permeability of the
iron is considered constant, whereas the electrical conductivity
m is as follows [13]:
(1)
where is the temperature of the pot in Kelvin, whose value is
required. The value of the numerator is also called the electrical
conductivity at ambient temperature m . Given the ar-
rangement of induction cookers, a sensor shape similar to that
of the main heating coil (i.e., planar and spiral shape) is the most
plausible because this shape makes its integration into the hob
easier.
The change in the electrical conductivity of the material leads
to a change in the electrical equivalent impedance of the coupled
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997
Fig. 2. Scheme of the main blocks of the proposed inductive sensor for tem-
perature measurement.
sensor-vessel system. As is known, the equivalent impedance
of an induction system consists of the series connection of
equivalent resistance and inductance [1], i.e.,
(2)
Therefore, the measurement of the temperature consists in de-
tecting the variation of the equivalent inductance with respect to
the reference value corresponding to the ambient temperature.
The variation of is the origin of the change of the oscillator
frequency. Frequency measurements can be performed by either
analog or digital methods.
There are many ways of determining the of the sensor,
for instance the commonly used finite element analysis (FEA).
However, in this case, an analytical solution is used because it
allows parameters to be swept more easily than with FEA tools.
By the application of Maxwell’s equations, the impedance can
be analytically obtained if semi-infinite media (pot and ferrite)
are considered. This assumption will be reviewed later.
The system to be analyzed is schematically represented in
Fig. 3. The sensor consists of a set of turns whose internal
and external diameters are and , respectively. A measure-
ment current of amplitude at angular frequency is driven
by the coil. The sensor is placed between the pot and the ferrite,
which are modelled by means of their electromagnetic proper-
ties, electrical conductivity , and magnetic relative per-
meability . The distances from the sensor to the pot and
the ferrite are and , respectively.
The equivalent impedance of the sensor shown in Fig. 3 can
be found in [14], [15]. As can be deduced from these references,
the inductance of the sensor has two components, its self-induc-
tance in the air and a contribution of the media , i.e.,
(3)
According to Faraday’s Law, is usually negative.
From the above mentioned references, the expressions for
and are respectively [see (4) and (5), shown at the
bottom of the next page], where is the Bessel function of
first kind and order 1 [16], and is the integration variable of
the Fourier–Bessel transform, which is used to derive the above
equations. Moreover, parameters and depend on the prop-
erties of the pot and the ferrite, respectively, and also depend
on the integration variable . The parameters and can be
written in compact form by using a generic index , giving
(6)
The geometrical parameters of (4), (5) and (6) are represented
in Fig. 3. As can be seen, the electrical conductivity of the pot
998 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 12, NO. 5, MAY 2012

at K, which corresponds to a deep frying use, and

at K. Therefore, the gain of the sensor is directly
related to the equivalent inductance span.
Calculations of the equivalent inductance of the sensor with
respect to its external diameter, , have been carried out by
using the expressions (3), (4), and (5). In these calculations the
distance between the sensor and the pot has been set to the min-
imum allowed by the arrangement, i.e., mm, which
corresponds to the thickness of the ceramic glass that is used
in commercial hobs. Other fixed parameters are the following:
frequency of the sensing current kHz, relative mag-
netic permeability , electrical conductivity .
The frequency of the sensing current is taken as equal to that
used in the final application, and therefore, it is taken with a
posteriori information. However, the trend is the same with
other frequency values, and the calculations have been repeated
here only for validation purposes. Furthermore, considering that
some ferrite bars are mounted in commercial hobs, an equiva-
lent permeability of for the lower half plane has been
taken in order to apply the semi-infinite plane approach [17]. As
was shown in this reference, discrete ferrite bars can be mod-
eled as a semi-infinite ferrite plane of equivalent permeability.
Fig. 3. Schematic representation of the sensor and the media for modeling This permeability was selected according to our previous ex-
purposes. perience. Furthermore, the external diameter of the sensor has
been ranged from 10 mm to 210 mm, and the number of turns
is also considered as a parameter. The results of the calcula-
is included in the parameter . On the other hand, the con- tions are shown in Fig. 4, where the span of in percentage
ductivity of the ferrite is usually very low, and then is terms with respect to the value at ambient temperature is repre-
assumed. sented. According to this figure, the more turns the sensor has,
the higher span of is achieved. Furthermore, as can be seen,
III. DESIGN OF THE SENSING COIL for each number of turns there is a diameter that maximizes the
span of . In Fig. 4, the case of corresponds to the in-
A. Number of Turns and Operation Frequency ductor of the burner of a commercial hob having mm.
The impedance of the sensor not only depends on the From this figure, it can be concluded that this inductor could also
temperature but also on parameters such as the number of turns, be used for sensing purposes with an acceptable approximation
the geometry, and the frequency of the sensing current among to the optimal design.
others. Thus, it is especially interesting to analyze the influ- Once the geometry and number of turns of the sensor were
ence of such parameters on in order to extract conclusions determined, additional calculations were carried out in order to
that could help in the design of the sensor. In other words, the determine the optimal sensing frequency. The results are shown
number of turns of the coil, the coil size, the sensing current in Fig. 5. According to this figure, the lower the sensing fre-
frequency and the position of the sensor are analyzed just to quency, the higher the span of . However, the lower limit
maximize the span of with respect to the change of the tem- of this frequency will be fixed by practical limitations of the
perature. The span of is defined as the difference between oscillator. These limitations refer to the fact that a very low

(4)

(5)

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FRANCO et al.: INDUCTIVE SENSOR FOR TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT IN INDUCTION HEATING APPLICATIONS
Fig. 4. Span of the equivalent inductance, in percentage terms with respect to
the value at ambient temperature, as a function of the diameter of the sensor and
its number of turns.
Fig. 5. Frequency-dependent span of the equivalent inductance for the consid-
ered sensor.
Fig. 6. Range of variation of for the considered temperature span.
output impedance oscillator has to be designed because at low
frequency the impedance of the sensor becomes small.
From the point of view of the oscillator design, it is thus also
useful to know for the selected sensor, and the variation of
its value for the considered temperature range. These results are
shown in Fig. 6.
It is worth analyzing a couple of issues before finishing this
Section. Firstly, considering that the sensor is also the main in-
ductor, which has a considerable size, it is interesting to analyze
the effect of the size of the pot with respect to the external diam-
eter of the sensor. In other words, the validity of the semi-infi-
nite plane model, which is assumed in the analytical modeling,
is reviewed. For this purpose some 2-D FEA simulations have
been carried out by means of the COMSOL tool [18]. The sim-
ulated system consists of a sensor coil and a pot whose external
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999
Fig. 7. Equivalent inductance of a turn with three pots having different diame-
ters. The dots represent values calculated by means of COMSOL FEA tool. The
line represent the values calculated using the analytical model.
diameter is varied. The studied values are mm,
mm, mm, i.e., the first pot diameter
is smaller than the coil diameter, the second one equals the coil
diameter, and the third one rather corresponds to the semi-infi-
nite plane model. For these cases, the equivalent inductance has
been obtained as a function of the frequency and the results are
shown in Fig. 7. In this figure, results obtained from the ana-
lytical model have also been represented. It has been observed
that if the diameter of the pot is equal to the diameter of the
coil, the difference of the calculated by the analytical model
with respect to the FEA tool is smaller than 5%. This accuracy
is guaranteed taking into account that in practical applications,
supplying power to pots whose size is smaller than the size of the
inductor is not allowed simply to protect the power electronics.
This size detection is carried out by means of the identification
of the equivalent inductance of the pot, which is made automat-
ically by the hob.
Secondly, pots made of different materials having different
properties can be found on the market and, as is well known, the
equivalent impedance of the pots depends on their properties. In
order to analyze the effect of the properties of the materials over
the span of a calculation has been carried out in which the
electrical conductivity at the ambient temperature, , is swept
from m to m . Moreover, the rela-
tive permeability has also been considered as a parameter. The
results are shown in Fig. 8 for the sensor of 17 turns. As can be
seen, the span depends on the properties of the pot material.
However, as mentioned above, in practical implementations an
identification of the of the pot is made to determine whether
the size of the pot is suitable for power supplying purposes. This
identification is also correlated with the properties of the mate-
rial by means of tabulated results. The correlated properties are
thus used to determine the span of . Summarizing, in prac-
tical applications, the properties of the pot at ambient temper-
ature should be identified in order to determine the span of the
of the sensor. As seen below, this span is required in the
calibration process.
IV. SENSING CIRCUIT
Based on the inductance span of the sensing coil obtained in
the above section, a circuit is needed to transform the impedance
variation into a more suitable physical magnitude. In this case,
1000
Fig. 8. Frequency-dependent span of the equivalent inductance for the consid-
ered sensor.
Fig. 9. Marginal oscillator scheme.
an oscillator is selected to convert the inductance into a fre-
quency which is measurable with the control unit of the induc-
tion hob. An appropriate oscillator for this application is the high
stability oscillator, used in [11] to measure the penetration depth
of currents in superconductors as a function of temperature.
A scheme of the oscillator is shown in Fig. 9. It consists in
a differential amplifier built through two identical JFET. The
frequency of the oscillator is characterized by
(7)
where is the resonant capacitor and is a design parameter
to tune the frequency range. Due to the fact that the inductance
span grows as the frequency decreases, to obtain the most ac-
curate measurement we must select the resonant capacitor that
allows the oscillator to work at as low a frequency as possible.
Simulations were done in order to obtain the allowable working
frequencies of the marginal oscillator. Fig. 10 shows the results
varying from 8.2 nF to 1 nF. The lowest working frequency
is around 700 kHz with a nF, and obtaining a fre-
quency span of 10%. The other parameters selected for our ap-
plications are: , nF, , perature and its impedance values
V, and mA.
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IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 12, NO. 5, MAY 2012
Fig. 10. Spectrum of the marginal oscillator with the selected sensing coil for
different resonant capacitors. The different curves represent the oscillation am-
plitude for different values of . Namely, from lower to higher resonant
frequencies, the tested capacitors are: 8.2 nF, 6.8 nF, 4.7 nF, 2.7 nF, 1.8 nF, 1 nF.
Fig. 11. Variation of the frequency of the oscillator when a capacitor of
4.7 nF is considered. The linear fitting of as a function of the temperature
is also shown.
In order to analyze the linearity of the sensor, the obtained
is considered to be part of the oscillator. Then, the frequency
of the oscillator is simulated and represented as a func-
tion of the temperature. Furthermore, a linear fitting of is
also applied and is represented versus the temperature (Fig. 11).
For this fitting, a value of the squared of the regression coef-
ficient can be obtained. As can be deduced, the
sensor shows an acceptable linearity for the considered temper-
ature range and, apart from the pertinent calibration, additional
linearization of the obtained measurements will not be carried
out.
Fig. 12 shows an image of the electronic circuit of the imple-
mented marginal oscillator. Additionally to the basic scheme of
the oscillator, an amplifier and a filter are included for improving
the quality of the measurement.
V. CALIBRATION SETUP AND METHOD
As a calibration process is needed, some laboratory tests were
carried out to obtain the different gains of the sensor depending
on the materials of the base of the pot. We selected four typical
pots to train the microcontroller of the hob. As the kinds of al-
loys used to make ferromagnetic pots are quite similar to those
of the four pots used for calibration, it is unnecessary to train the
hob with all the pots on the market. To calibrate the hob, each
characteristic pot is placed over the induction hob at room tem-
, are obtained. After-
wards, a heating-up test is done registering the temperature of
FRANCO et al.: INDUCTIVE SENSOR FOR TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT IN INDUCTION HEATING APPLICATIONS
Fig. 12. Image of the electronic circuit of the marginal oscillator.
Fig. 13. Testing setup scheme and picture of the setup of the inductive sensor.
the pot and the frequency of the marginal oscillator throughout
the cooking range. The initial inductance of each pot is then
related to its temperature-frequency curve and logged into the
memory of the control unit of the hob. In the real application, the
hob, having been previously calibrated in the laboratory, mea-
sures the initial inductance at room temperature and assigns the
pot a temperature-frequency curve so that the real temperature
can be obtained. The following sections explain in detail how
the calibration is performed.
Fig. 13 shows a scheme and a picture of the calibration setup
consisting of two main systems. The first, (a), controls and mea-
sures the temperature. The second, (b), converts the impedance
of the system “pot-coil” into frequency. The temperature con-
trol system (a) consists of a 500 W heater resistance placed on
the pot to heat it up, and a NTC (Negative Temperature Coef-
ficient) thermistor that measures the temperature of the base of
the pot, both connected to a temperature regulator “Eurotherm
3216” that stabilizes the temperature in the pot prior to taking
the frequency measurement. System (b) consists of the sensing
coil, in this case the same coil that heats up the pot in an induc-
tion hob, as mentioned above, connected to a marginal oscillator
(Fig. 12). The oscillator is fed by a DC source and its output
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1001
Fig. 14. Calibration results of the inductive sensor in the induction hob over
different pots.
TABLE I
CALIBRATION RESULTS
signal is connected to a frequency meter “Agilent 53131A” that
allows frequency measurements from 0.1 Hz to 225 MHz.
To calibrate the sensor, the tests are carried out while heating
up the pots in the cooking range (from 20 C to 220 C). The
temperature objective is selected in the temperature regulator in
intervals of 1 C. When the pot reaches the temperature selected
and does not change in 5 min, it is considered stabilized and the
measurement of the frequency is taken. Finally, the output of the
frequency meter and the output of the temperature regulator are
connected to a PC to register the data.
Calibration results are shown in Fig. 14. From these measure-
ments it is possible to establish the relation between the per-
centage of frequency variation and the temperature of the pot
for each type of vessel, . The results are summa-
rized in Table I. As mentioned above, the memory of the con-
trol unit of the hob stores the initial impedance value and for
each kind of pot. When the user places a pot over the cooking
zone, the hob measures the initial inductance value identifying
the kind of vessel that the user is going to use, and converts the
frequency measurements to temperature by means of . The
next section shows real application examples.
VI. APPLICATION SETUP AND METHOD
The sensor has been implemented in an induction hob to test
its behavior in a real environment, previous to serial manufac-
turing. Fig. 15 shows a scheme of the setup. In the application,
the induction coil “1” that heats up the pot also measures the
temperature in combination with the marginal oscillator “4”.
Then, a relay “2” is needed to multiplex both functions of the
inductor, and also to isolate the sensing circuit from the power
1002 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 12, NO. 5, MAY 2012

Fig. 15. Application setup scheme of the inductive sensor. Integrated in the
hob: “1” Inductor-sensing coil; “2” relays; “3” power electronic circuit; “4”
inductive sensor; “5” microcontroller. Outside the hob: “6” temperature sensor;
“7” PC.

electronic circuit “3”. The control signal of the relay is supplied

by the control unit of the hob “5”, consisting of a microcontroller
and an ASIC that also counts the number of zero crossing events
to obtain the frequency of the sensing circuit signal. In addition,
the temperature of the pot placed over the ceramic glass is reg-
istered by a thermistor and an A/D (analog to digital) converter
for temperature measurement PICO TC-08 “6”. Both measure-
ments, frequency and temperature, are registered by a PC “7” to
plot the results.
The procedure for taking the measurements is as follows. A
power level of 350 W is selected in the touch control of the hob
to start the heating up process that will take 10 min. Every 3 s,
the power is cut and the microcontroller sends a signal to change
the connection of the coil from the power electronics circuit
to the sensing circuit. Then, the microcontroller waits 20 ms
until the oscillating circuit reaches the steady state, and straight
afterwards the micro starts to measure zero crossing events for
20 ms. Once this is done, the PC captures the frequency and
Fig. 16. Application results over “POT 1” on (a) and “POT 4” on (b).
temperature data, and the coil is connected again to the power
electronics circuit.
The results of implementation in a real induction hob are pre- is to say, at room temperature with the pot totally covering the
sented in Fig. 16. The graph shows the behavior of “POT 1” sensing coil. Secondly, there is the cooking process itself. The
and “POT 4”. The measurement of the temperature with the pro- pot is not fixed to the cooking zone, and it is, therefore, possible
posed inductive sensor shows a good fitting with the real tem- that the pot is misaligned from the center. Small misalignments
perature registered. In spite of the noise that appears in the mea- have slight influence on the variation of frequency and are not
surements (smaller than 6 C), the precision is good enough to critical, but larger displacements that uncover the sensing coil
avoid fire. Compared with the current state of induction hobs, may cause an abrupt change in the frequency causing a wrong
where a NTC measuring the glass temperature in the centre of measurement. However, this situation is straightforwardly iden-
the cooking zone could reach a difference of hundreds of de- tifiable due to the abrupt change in the temperature measure-
grees with the real temperature of the vessel, the results show ment. As a safety measure, the hob will reduce the power to a
that the application represents an important opportunity to de- safe range, and will alert the user through acoustic signals that
velop safer cookers. the pot is not centered.

A. Comments on the Real Application VII. CONCLUSION

Some critical issues in the use of the sensor at home require
further comment. First of all, we focus on the starting condition.
As the initial state is used to determine the properties of the pot
and a gain is assigned to relate frequency and temperature, for a
correct measurement it is important that the pot is identified at
the same state at which the microcontroller has been trained, that
The use of the proposed inductive sensor for temperature
measurement in induction hobs has important advantages com-
pared with current measurement systems. The sensor provides
an instantaneous measurement of the frequency that is linearly
related to the temperature of the base of the pot in the cooking
range. Instant measurement error is much smaller than in the

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FRANCO et al.: INDUCTIVE SENSOR FOR TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT IN INDUCTION HEATING APPLICATIONS
case of the most widespread method, consisting of a NTC ther-
mistor, and much cheaper than other systems consisting of in-
frared technology. The linearity in the whole span of the appli-
cation allows the same accuracy to be achieved at low and high
temperatures, overcoming the limitations of other technologies.
Furthermore, the induction heating coil is the same coil used
to measure the temperature. This allows the proposed system
to be integrated easily and economically into current induction
cookers.
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Carlos Franco (S’09) received the M.Sc. degree in
computer sciences and systems engineering from the
Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain, in 2010.
Since 2009, he has been with the Departamento de
Informática e Ingeniería de Sistemas, Universidad
de Zaragoza. He has been working on temperature
control applications and energy saving appliances.
His interests include sensor development, mi-
croprocessor-based control, and energy saving
technologies.
Jesús Acero (M’06) received the M.Sc. and Ph.D.
degrees in electrical engineering from the University
of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain, in 1992 and 2005,
respectively.
From 1992 to 2000, he worked in several industry
projects, especially in custom power supplies for re-
search laboratories. He has been with the Department
of Electronic Engineering and Communications at
the University of Zaragoza, Spain, where he is
currently an Associate Professor. His main research
interests include resonant converters for induction
heating applications, inductive-type load modeling, and magnetics.
Rafael Alonso received the M.Sc. and the Ph.D.
degrees in physics from the University of Zaragoza,
Spain, in 1988 and 1995, respectively.
He is an Associate Professor in the Department
of Applied Physics at the University of Zaragoza.
He has worked on optical fiber-based devices and
more recently his main research interests include
the design and implementation of optoelectronic
instruments and the electromagnetic characterization
of induction heating systems.
Carlos Sagüés (M’00) received the M.Sc. and Ph.D.
degrees from the Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain.
During the course of his Ph.D., he worked on force
and infrared sensors for robots.
He has been the Head Teacher with the
Departamento de Informática e Ingeniería de
Sistemas, Universidad de Zaragoza, where he
became an Associate Professor in 1994 and has
been a Full Professor since 2009. His current
research interests include control systems, computer
vision, visual robot navigation, and multivehicle
cooperative control.
Dr. Sagüés has served as AE or PC member of different research meetings
and he also has coauthored more than 100 journal and conference papers related
with their topics of interest.
David Paesa (S’09) received the M.Sc. degree from
the Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain.
Since 2007, he has been with the Departamento de
Informática e Ingeniería de Sistemas, Universidad de
Zaragoza. He has been working on temperature con-
trol applications and energy saving appliances. His
interests include microprocessor-based control, ro-
bust and adaptive control, adaptive and multi-model
observers, hybrid systems, as well as reset systems.