Application Study on Induction Heating using
Half Bridge LLC Resonant Inverter
R. Phadungthin
Department of Electronics Engineering Technology
College of Industrial Technology
King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok
Bangkok, THAILAND
rattanakorn.p@cit.kmutnb.ac.th
Abstract— Nowadays, an induction heating has been a popular
heating technique and used in various applications such as
melting, heat treating, preheating for welding, brazing,
soldering, curing, sealing and shrink fitting. It is the fast,
efficient, precise, repeatable and non-contact technique for
heating metals or other electrically-conductive materials. This
paper aims to present the induction heating to half bridge LLC
resonant inverter application. The analysis contains six
components: transformer, full bridge rectifier, half bridge
inverter, resonant tank, high frequency transformer, and coil.
Furthermore, a PLL controller is used in the system. Basically,
an induction power is supplied to the induction heating system
in which an alternating current of a converter is delivered to a
work piece. The convertor is LLC that is used in this analysis for
improving its resonant. The work piece is 20-cm length and 9-
mm diameter with 5-turn coil. In addition, it is heated for 60
seconds with temperature at 352 degree Celsius.
Index Terms—Induction heating; half-bridge
inverter; high frequently transformer h
INTRODUCTION
Converting electrical energy to heat energy contains
various techniques. One of the well-known techniques is
regarding heating coil. The heating from low frequency (50
Hz) provides low efficiency due to high power loss inside the
coil. Subsequently, induction heat with better efficiency is
developed. [1]
The principle of the induction heat is that a high frequency
electric current flows through the coil, causing high frequency
magnetic field to the workpiece and inducing heat at the
workpiece. In addition, the high frequency electric current
results in most of heating at the workpiece. Energy
transferring from the coil to the workpiece can be done with
the electrical conductor only, which is not touched with the
workpiece for safe use. The induction heat can be applied in
several applications: metal burning, metal hardening, metal
welding, and stove.
978-1-5090-6161-7/17/$31.00 2017
c IEEE
Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Pretoria. Downloaded on March 02,2024 at 14:31:40 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
J. Haema
Department of Electrical Engineering Technology
College of Industrial Technology
King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok
Bangkok, THAILAND
juthathip.h@cit.kmutnb.ac.th
This paper aims to present the induction heating to half
bridge LLC resonant inverter application. The analysis
consists of six components: transformer, full bridge rectifier,
half bridge inverter, resonant tank, high frequency
transformer, and coil. Moreover, a PLL controller in the
system, as shown in Fig. 1.
resonant
Figure 1. Block diagram of induction heating to half bridge LLC resonant
inverter application
BASIC PRINCIPLE OF INDUCTION HEATING
The induction heat concerns the electromagnetic theory
containing electromagnetic induction, skin effect and heat
transfer. Michael Faraday discovered that the alternating
current flowing through the coil makes the magnetic field
around the coil [2]. Its density of the magnetic field around
the coil depends on the number of the coil. The magnetic
field through the metal workpiece induces the current flowing
to the workpiece. Mostly, the current will flow to the
workpiece. The changed magnetic field causes an induction
and heat on the surface of the workpiece [3]. Furthermore, the
heat depends on the amount of induced current. The
equivalent resistance is transferred to other areas by
convection, conduction and radiation on the surface. The
basic principle of the induction heat is similar to that of the
transformer operation, as shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.
1582
 i x =i o e − x / d o (5)

2ρ (6)
d o=
μω
As the skin thickness is achieved by the resistivity, the
Figure 2. Equivalent circuit of transformer permeability and the frequency of the object, the distribution
of current density corresponding to skin thickness [6] is shown
in Fig. 5.

Figure 3. Short-circuit secondary side

A. Electromagnetic induction
In the Fig. 4, when the current flows through the coil, it
causes the magnetic field around the coil, following the
ampere’s law, as written in Eq. (1) and Eq. (2).
Figure 5. Distribution of current density and skin thickness
†‹ = ‹ = ˆ (1)
³ CIRCUIT OPERATION OF HALF BRIDGE RESONANT
φ =μ  (2) The circuit of induction heating to half bridge LLC
resonant inverter application is illustrated in Fig. 6.

Figure 4. Electromagnetic induction

When an object is placed on the magnetic field, it causes a Figure 6. Circuit of half bridge LLC resonent inverter
change in the magnetic field rotation [4]. The density of the
magnetic field lines on the object surface, following the Mode 1: When M1 is turned on and M2 is turned off, the
Faraday’s law of the induction and the eddy current, as written current flows from Vin to drain and source of MOSFETs (M1)
in Eq. (3). to capacitor (Cr), leakage inductance (Lr), and primary coil of
Lp. Then energy will be transferred to secondary coil of Ls.
dȜ dφ The mode 1 is shown in Fig.7 (a).
E= =N (3)
Mode 2: MOSFETs M1 and M2 are turned off, leakage
dt dt inductance (Lr) will release an energy to primary coil of Lp,
The electric energy resulted from the induced current and diode (D2), and capacitor (Cr). Then primary side of Lp coil
eddy current are converted to heat energy, as written in (4). will transfer the energy to secondary coil of Ls. The mode 2 is
shown in Fig.7 (b).
E2 2 Mode 3: MOSFETs M1 is turned off and M2 is turned on. The
P= =i R (4)
current flows from capacitor (Cr), MOSFETs (M2) and
R primary coil of Lp. Then the Lp will transfer the energy to
B. Skin Effect secondary coil of Ls. The mode 3 is shown in Fig.7 (c).
The electrical phenomena that causes the density of the Mode 4: MOSFETs M1 and M2 are turned off. The energy in
current surrounding the conductor higher than inside, leakage inductance (Lr) is released to capacitor (Cr), diode
especially in the AC current, provides the resistance of the (D1), Vin, and primary coil of Lp. The mode 4 is shown in
conductor change with the frequency [5], as written in Eq. (5) Fig.7 (d).
and Eq. (6).

2017 12th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA) 1583

Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Pretoria. Downloaded on March 02,2024 at 14:31:40 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 EXPERIMENTAL RESULT
The 110 VAC from the transformer that sends to the full
bridge rectifier provides 155 VDC. The 5-turn copper winding
is wound around the steel. The relevant parameters of the
circuit are summarized in Table I.

TABLE I. PARAMETERS OF CIRCUIT

Parameter Device number and circuit value

Vs,rms 220V, 50Hz

(a) Mode 1: M1 is turned on and M2 is turned off. Vbus 155 VDC

M1, M2 IRFP 4232
Diode bridge KBPC 3506
Turn ratio 18:3
Switching frequency ( fs) 21.55 kHz

The waveforms of the output voltage and the output

current from bridge rectifier are shown in Fig. 8. The CH1
measures the voltage (VerticalCH1: 400V/div.) while the
CH2 measures the current (VerticalCH1: 50A/div.).

(b) Mode 2: M1 and M2 are turned off.

Figure 8. Waveforms of the output voltage and the output current from
bridge rectifier
(c) Mode 3: M1 is turned off and M2 is turned on.
The waveforms of the voltage and the current from drain
to source of MOSFETs are shown in Fig. 9. The CH1
measures the voltage (VerticalCH1: 400V/div.) while and the
CH2 measures the current (VerticalCH1: 100A/div.).

(d) Mode 4: M1 and M2 are turned off.

Figure 7. Operating of half bridge LLC resonent inverter

Figure 9. Waveforms of the voltage and the current from drain to source of
MOSFETs

1584 2017 12th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA)

Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Pretoria. Downloaded on March 02,2024 at 14:31:40 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 The zoomed waveforms of the voltage and the current
from drain to source of MOSFETs are shown in Fig. 10. The
CH1 measures the voltage (VerticalCH1: 400V/div.) while
the CH2 measures the current (VerticalCH1: 100A/div.).
When the voltage decreases until zero, the current flowing
from the drain to the source begins rising.
Figure 10. Zoomed waveforms of the voltage and the current from drain to
source of MOSFETs
Figure 11. Waveforms of frequency reference and frequency of the output
voltage
The CH1 measures the voltage reference, while the CH2
measures the output voltage, as shown in the Fig. 11. The
temperature changing of the workpiece is with respect to
time. When the temperature is around 150C to 350C, the
resonant frequency is not changed. Additionally, the
maximum temperature is at 352C for 60 seconds as shown in
Fig. 12. The results as written in Table II show that when the
time to heat up the workpiece is longer, the temperature is
higher.
Figure 12. Temperature of workpiece with respect to time
2017 12th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA)
Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Pretoria. Downloaded on March 02,2024 at 14:31:40 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
TABLE II. TEMPERATURE AND THERMAL QUANTITY OF WORKPIECE
Time (s) Temperature (C)
0 33
10 58
20 118
30 181
40 210
50 265
60 352
CONCLUSION
The induction heating to half bridge LLC resonant
inverter application is proposed for heating metals or other
electrically-conductive materials. The analysis involves six
components: transformer, full bridge rectifier, half bridge
inverter, resonant tank, high frequency transformer, and coil.
In addition, a PLL controller is used in the system. The
experiment result shows that the workpiece is heated up for 60
seconds with temperature at 352 degree Celsius.
Consequently, the 700-watt input power and the 560-watt
output power are achieved with the efficiency as 80%.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge College of Industrial
Technology, King Mongkut’s University of Technology
North Bangkok for supporting this work.
REFERENCES
[1] R. Phadungthin, J. Haema, "High frequency induction heating of full
bridge resonant inverter application," 2016 International Symposium on
Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion
(SPEEDAM), pp. 1383-1387, Italy. 2016.
[2] M. Kamli, S. Yamamoto, and M. Abe, "A 50-150 kHz Half-Bridge
Inverter for induction heating Application," IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron,
vol. 43, pp. 163-172, February. 1996.
[3] R. Phadungthin, J. Haema, "Full bridge resonant inverter for non-
ferrous metal induction heating application," Power and Energy
Engineering Conference (APPEEC), 2015 IEEE PES Asia-Pacific,
Australia. 2015.
[4] E. J. Davies, J. and Simpson, P., Induction Heating Handbook,
McGraw-Hill, UK.
[5] Marty Brown, POWER SUPPLY COOKBOOK, 2nd Edition, printed by
Butterworth-Heinemann Book Company, Inc. 2001.
[6] Timothy L. Skvarenina, POWER ELECTRONIC HANDBOOK, CRC
Press in United State of America, 2002.
1585