Single‐Stage ZVS‐PWM AC‐AC Power Converter Using All SiC Power Module for High‐Frequency Induction Heating Applications

Abstract

This paper presents a novel prototype of a singlestage zero voltage soft-switching pulse-width modulation -controlled ac-ac converter with a silicon carbide (SiC)-MOSFET/SiC-SBD power module for high-frequency (HF) induction heating (IH) applications. The newly developed ac-ac converter can achieve higher efficiency than a Si-IGBT/Si-PN diode power module-based prototype due to a low ON-resistance of SiC-MOSFET and a low forward voltage of SiC-SBD under the condition of HF switching. The performances of the new prototype converter are evaluated by experiment with a single-phase IH utensil of ferromagnetic stainless metal, after which the high-efficiency and low switching noise characteristics due to the all SiC power module are actually demonstrated. C⃝ 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 201(3): 69-76, 2017; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).Keywords: single-stage utility frequency ac (UFAC)-high-frequency ac power converter; boost halfbridge (BHB); high-frequency resonant (HF-R) inverter; zero voltage soft-switching (ZVS); silicon carbide (SiC) power device; induction heating (IH) applications.