Current Source Resonant Inverter Research Articles

Development of a current source resonant inverter for high current MHz induction heating

High frequency industrial induction heating processes typically employ resonant inverters to reach high efficiency at high power levels. Advancements in wide band gap (WBG) device technology has made it feasible to push the possible frequency of these processes into the MHz regime using solid state technology. Several topologies can be applied, each with advantages and drawbacks. This paper presents a current source resonant inverter (CSRI) employing a custom designed power module utilizing 1700V SiC MOSFETs for MHz operation of a high-Q resonant tank for induction heating, which presents new challenges in the inverter module design. An integrated gate driver structure is demonstrated driving four MOSFETs in parallel in MHz operation. Theoretical analysis predicts substantial parasitic influence on inverter operation, and thus an inverter is constructed to provide experimental verification of MHz operation, while the challenges associated with high frequency CSRI operation are discussed. In the experimental inverter setup, the fabricated power module achieves > 90 % efficiency for a calculated reactive power of 170 kVA and 2.3 kW output power during unloaded operation, validating the inverter design for extension to higher power loaded operation.

A Modified Valley Fill Electronic Ballast Having a Current Source Resonant Inverter With Improved Line-Current Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), High Power Factor, and Low Lamp Crest Factor

In this paper, a modified valley fill (VF) circuit is employed to combine with a current-fed resonant inverter as a passive high power factor (PF) electronic ballast. A conventional VF circuit limits the line current to conduct when the conduction angles are: 30deg les omegat les 150deg and 210deg les omegat les 330deg during the line period, which results in high total harmonic distortion (THD). The modified VF circuit has the following advantage: When the capacitors are connected in parallel, the voltage across the capacitors is one-third of the peak voltage, which allows the conduction angle of the line current to be further extended to 19.5deg les omegat les 160.5deg and 199.5deg les omegat les 340.5deg, so that a lower THD can be achieved. The high lamp crest factor (CF) problem generated by the high ripple voltage from the modified VF circuit is improved in the proposed ballast as variable frequency control is employed to continuously regulate the lamp current. An experimental prototype is then built in the laboratory to verify the feasibility of the proposed work for a 26-W compact fluorescent lamp. The final results confirm that a PF of 0.986 and a lamp CF of 1.49 are achieved with the proposed circuit, whereas a PF of 0.96 is achieved with the conventional VF ballast.

Analysis, simulation and verification of a bipolar current source power resonant inverter

AbstractA high‐frequency bipolar current source resonant inverter introduced in this paper has dramatic zero‐voltage‐switching (ZVS) characteristic. The analytic expressions of the resonant voltage and current are given. It indicates that the resonant waveform is composed of two parts, i.e. the oscillatory component and the stationary component. In special cases, the resonant waveform degenerates into the mono‐frequency component, as presents the graceful sinusoidal wave with very low total harmonic distortion (THD) value. Based on the closed‐form voltage and current, the component stresses on reactive elements are obtained. The impact of different component values and operating frequencies on ZVS feature is also discussed. It should be noted that the ZVS merit may be lost if the components are carelessly selected. The validity of the theoretical analysis has been proven with Pspice simulations and experimental results. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Investigation and verification of a cascade double –CL current source resonant inverter

The current source resonant inverter (CSRI) is at the heart of many systems and equipment (e.g. uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and high-frequency annealing (HFA) equipment). Many topologies shown in open literature are series resonant converters (SRC) and parallel resonant converters (PRC) that consist of two or three energy storage elements. However, they have a number of limitations. These limitations of two- or/and three- element resonant topologies can be overcome by adding a fourth energy storage element. This paper introduces a cascade double /spl Gamma/-CL CSRI, which has very smooth waveforms for output voltage and current, and a very low total harmonic distortion (THD) value. It effectively reduces the power losses and largely increases the power transfer efficiency. Simulation and testing results verified the authors' design and analysis.