Chapter 2 Hardware

Chapter 2
Hardware

2.1 Selection of MOSFET

Induction heater is a power full system with variable behavior. Usually the operating
frequency of such system vary from 15KHz to 200KHz depending on the requirement
defined in the section (1.5).
The variable behavior of induction heater can be defined by inductive, capacitive or
resistive depending on its operating frequency. The power levels can vary from 500W
to more than 12kW.
The selection of switching device is critical, also depending on the topology being
implemented. In case of series resonant circuit, the impedance is minimum at
resonant frequency so the current is maximum. In case of parallel resonant circuit, the
impedance is maximum at resonant frequency so the current is minimum. The order
the current can vary from a few amperes to hundreds of amperes depending on the
topology.
In case our system, we have series resonant circuit with an operating resonant
frequency of 68 kHz. The current is maximum at resonant frequency but ZVS occur
naturally at the resonant frequency. So the stress on the switching devices is greatly
reduce.
We employed MOSFETs which have naturally high power handling capability. IRF740
MOSFETs are able to handle 400V, 10A rated current with operating frequency as
high as 200 kHz at resonance. Such device offer the best trade off and can perform
the function quit well.
The Semi-Conductor switching devices like MOSFETs and IGBTs can only carry
positive current which flow from drain to source. If the H-bridge circuit is connected to
an inductor then there are chances that the current flows in opposite direction with the
Switching device still on. Since the current will face very large resistance, it will case
instantly creating large voltage spikes across the switch (MOSFETs). This stress is
enough to damage the semi-conductor switch so must be dealt with. To solve this
problem, there is an ultra-fast recovery anti-parallel diode connected across the
MOSFETs which provides the path for negative current flow thus easing the stress on
the switch. IGBTs and MOSFETs with anti-parallel diodes are available in single
package. The described model of MOSFETs IRF740 has built in anti-parallel diode to
cater for such problems. Since the circuit is made to run at resonance frequency by

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PID controller at all time, the circuit does not require an external snubber circuit. The
inherent output capacitance of the switching device is enough to act as snubber.
Although these device are expensive but offer a good overall performance and rigid
behavior. Under normal low testing voltage, there is hardly any chance of blowing
these devices.

Figure 2.1: MOSFET IRF740

Figure 2.2: MOSFET connected on project

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2.2 Optocouplers
Optocouplers play an important role by separating low voltage and low current side of
the circuit with high voltage current side. This helps in protecting the devices such as
microcontroller from heavy surges that may occur in power circuit.
Optocouplers usually convert the high frequency switching signal into corresponding
light signal which falls on the light sensitive diode and give a corresponding switching
signal. The choice of optocouplers depend on the system they are employed in and
there are various parameters to be considered of witch the operating frequency is of
prime importance in induction heating.
Some optocouplers like EL817 comes with an additional circuity inside it source more
gate current for quick charging of the gate terminal of MOSFETs. The more quickly
gate capacitance gates charged the more quickly MOSFET will turn on. Such
optocouplers are widely used for inverter circuits as gate driving optocouplers. EL817
is an eight pin packaged optocoupler with promising performance for even as high 60
KHz switching frequency. They are rigid in their nature and can withstand voltage
surges in the circuit in a nice manner.

Figure 2.3: EL817 optocopler

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The following figure shows the circuit diagram:

Figure 2.4: configuration of EL817

2.3 Gate Driver

The main purpose of the gate driving circuit is to charge the gate capacitance as
quickly as possible to turn on and turn off the switching device. The function of a gate
driving circuit are:
1. Supply enough gate voltage
2. Provide dead time between switching sequences
3. Generates high and low side switching pulses.
The switching sequence is provide at gate terminal with reference to a source terminal.
The switching device likes MOSFETs and IGBTs are not ideal devices. Although with
recent technological advantages, the switching times have been greatly reduced but
in practical circuits MOSFETs take some finite time to switch off. This poses a problem
to the inverter circuit in which the two legs of full H-bridge circuit comprising of
MOSFET pair Q1, Q3 and Q2, Q4 gets shorted for a small time. To avoid such a
situation, an intentional delay is added after turning off Q1and Q4 and before turning
on Q2 and Q3. So in this interval, both the legs are turned off and shoot through
currents are avoided. This intentional delay is called dead time. It should be further
noted that usually the dead time is of the order of 1us to 1.5us depending on the circuit
but in high frequency circuit, it becomes critical to decide the value of dead time.

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Q1 Q2

Q3 Q4

Figure 2.5: H-bridge circuit

Figure 2.6: Dead time

The important task for gate driver ICs like IR2110, IR2103, IR2104 is to provide isolated
ground for high side (upper Q1and Q2) MOSFETs. Since we need a gate to source
voltage Vgs to turn the MOSFET on, the problem does not occur in driving low side
MOSFETs (Q3 and Q4) since their source terminal is at ground. Therefore we are able
to get a reference terminal. But in high side MOSFETs (Q1 and Q2), the source terminal
is floating. It is also the terminal from where we take the output of the full H-bridge circuit.
This terminal cannot be used as reference for using MOSFET as a switch since the gate
to source voltage Vgs is undefined in this scenario.
For high frequency circuits, we should employ IR2110 since it takes a programmable
dead time value while for circuits operating at low frequencies, we employ IR2103 which
has a built in dead time value of 520ns. These ICs require bootstrap capacitor for

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operation.

Figure 2.7: IR2110 gate driver providing isolated grounds

We experienced that driving the H -bridge circuit with the help of independent supplies is
a reliable and easy method since they are able to withstand voltage spikes in the circuit.
So we connect two independent 12V supplies to drive two high side MOSFETs of full H
bridge Q1 and Q2 and one 12V supply to driver two lower MOSFETs Q3 and Q4 since
they share a common ground.

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2.3.1 Independent Supplies

As described in the previous section the use of independent supplies, we take:
1. Three step down transformer 220V/12V each.
2. Connect three rectifier bridge ICs WO2M and.
3. Connect a regulator L7812 to form a 12V regulated DC supply.
Which is given to optocoplers for gate signals while the ground terminal of each
supply provides a reference.

Figure 2.8: Independent DC supply for gate drivers

Figure2.9: Implementation of Independent DC supply for gate driver

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2.4 DC supply for Inverter

Since this supply has to feed the inverter, the rating of this supply must be able to
source enough power to fire up the inverter to achieve the task at hand.
1. We employ an AC varies at the input terminal to adjust the input voltage according
to our need.
2. The rectifier is made with the help of four MIC10A10 diode which are capable of
handling 1000V and 10A rated current.
3. The output of the rectifier bridge is fed to a 400VDC rated 2200uF capacitor to
remove any ripples from the supply. This DC supply is fed to the inverter.
A large value resistance is connected across the terminal of the capacitor to drain out
the charge when the supply is switched off. This helps in preventing sparking if
terminal of capacitor are short circuited by mistake.

Figure 2.10: DC supply for inverter

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2.5 Tank Circuit

We can think of tank circuit as the load which our inverter has to drive. The work piece
to be heated is inserted in the work coil for heating. Work coil combined with capacitor
bank from a LC tank circuit with resonant frequency given by:

The design of these parameters depends on the type of heating as defined in the v
(effect of frequency) section.

Figure 2.11: Tank Circuit

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2.5.1 Design of Work Coil

The metal piece to be heated is inserted inside the work coil. There are several
points to be noted while designing the work coil. They are as follows:

1. If the work coil has larger number of turns, it will allow to heat bigger metal
pieces. However with the increase in the number of turns, there will be less
induced voltage and current.
2. A bigger coil will result in a lower resonant frequency. This will cause heat to
penetrate in the work piece which may or may not be desirable. Often this
requires more input power from the source to heat the same work piece. This
effect of more numbers of turns can be nullified by decreasing the turns of
coupling transformer.
3. The coil should be coupled with the work piece where the flux line of flux density
is maximum. This will results in more current induced.
4. Usually the flux lines are concentrated inside of the coil. So the flux is maximum
inside the coil near the turns of the coil. The geometric center of the coil will
have a weaker flux path.
5. Part of the work piece that is closest to the turns of coil will have more heating
effect than parts that are present closet to the center.
6. The design of the work coil should be such that it does not cancel the flux as
shown in the figure. The feasible designs for the coil are:
(i) Helical shape
(ii) Pancake shaped coil

Figure 2.12 Helical shaped coil

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Figure 2.13 pancake shape coil

2.5.2 Work coil for the project:

We design the coil for a copper tubing with 0.5 inch in diameter. To wound the copper
tube in required number of turns, first fill the tube with sand and wind it around a pole to
avoid bending the tube arounds corner. We gave four turns to the coil forming an overall
inductance of 1.2µH.
The coil is connected to the capacitor bank with the help of two copper bars with length
of 17.5 inches, joined with help of connecters.

Figure 2.14: Work coil for the Project

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2.6 Capacitor Bank

To set the resonance frequency of the tank circuit, we first design the coil since controlling
the exact value of inductance seems a difficult task. By obtaining the work coil, sets the
value of inductance that will be present in the tank circuit. Now we can set the value of
capacitance by connecting required number of capacitance in order to achieve the
desired resonant frequency.
We took 25 capacitors model 940C30P15K-F each offering 0.15µF with 10 percent
tolerance of capacitance rated at 3000V DC connecting these capacitance in parallel
gives:
Total Capacitance = 25*0.15µF = 3.75µF (2.2)

Overall these capacitors provides enough capability to handle more than 10KW. So this
system can be improved and made to run on more than 5KW of power.

Figure 2.15: capacitor bank

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2.7 coupling transformer

The current through series tank is very high. The inverter consist of MOSFETs, although
capable of handling very high current but the required current for direct operation of series
tank is very high. So we required a matching impedance circuitry. We have employed a
coupling transformer at the output inverter. Coupling transformer consist of two toroidal
ferrite core to operate under high frequency. The required current in 35A, so we have
employed a 20:1 transformer to step down the voltage and step up the current. Wire of
16 American wire gauge is used for primary winding and the transformer is mounted on
one end of the coil, so that one end of the coil is used as secondary winding and that the
transformer output is in phase with the inverter output. Now the current burden on the
MOSFETs is very less. But to avoid the abrupt current changes, we are using a series
inductor in between inverter. This helps to cater the problem of current rise in short circuit
condition at output as well.

Figure 2.16: coupling transformer

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2.8 Heatsinks
With the topology of resonance, the circuit achieve zero voltage switching but the flow of
current that passes through inverter creates some losses in the switching device.
MOSFET thermal resistance
Junction to case = RthJC1= 0.45 ͦ C/W
Diode thermal resistance
Junction case = RthJCD =1.1 ͦ C/W
Overall thermal resistance
Junction case = RthJC = 0.3 ͦ C/W
Thermal rsistance
Junction ambient = RthJA =40 ͦ C/W
Considering 30W to be power dissipation
Tj – Ta = Pd* RthJa = 30*40= 120 ͦ C
Taking
Ambient temperature= 40 ͦ C (for summer)
Tj = 120+Ta =120+40 =160 ͦ C
This exceeds the limits of maximum junction temperature of 150 ͦ C, so we have
employed heatsinks.

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2.9 sequence of the hardware

Combing all the hardware, now we shall orderly define the components.
1. Three 12V DC supplies as gate drivers.
2. Four optocoplers, one for each MOSFET in full H-bridge.
3. Four MOSFETs model IRF740.
4. DC supply for inverter 12V DC 2A.
5. LC tank circuit.

Figure 2.17 sequence of hardware

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