Multi‐Frequency Operated Series Resonant Inverter for All‐Utensil IC Applications

In induction cooking applications, a full‐bridge inverter supplies a high‐frequency current to heat ferromagnetic or non‐ferromagnetic pans. Existing induction cookers typically heat ferromagnetic pans. This is a well‐known technology and is successfully working. However, many non‐ferromagnetic materials like aluminum, copper, steel, and so forth cannot be heated properly due to their small internal resistance and low magnetic permeability. An inverter configuration with five switches is proposed in this paper that can be used to power both ferromagnetic and non‐ferromagnetic pans. The primary benefits of the proposed configuration are (a) multiple vessel operation, (b) all metal (i.e., ferro and non‐ferromagnetic material) domestic heating application, (c) independent control of two loads, (d) better power regulation, (e) low component count, and (f) high efficiency. Asymmetric duty cycle (ADC) control with a dual frequency operation is implemented here to control the power of connected loads. The proposed topology is designed and simulated using the MATLAB tool. Hardware prototype is tested for both ferromagnetic and non‐ferromagnetic pans with the help of an FPGA driver board. The experimental peak efficiency observed is 95.6%.