IGBT with Induction Cooker

The inductive cook top creates a flat smooth surface that is easier to clean making it attractive to consumers. An induction cooker transfers electrical energy by induction from a coil of wire into any pot made of material which is electrically conductive and ferromagnetic. A coil of wire is mounted under the cooking surface and a large alternating current is passed through it to transfer power to the pot. When an electrically conductive pot is brought close to the cooking surface, the magnetic field induces an electrical current in the pot.

The current flowing through the electrical resistance in the pot causes electrical power to be dissipated as heat. The heating of the pot can be used for cooking the food. Induction cook tops have become very popular displacing most resistive heated cook tops. The power circuit used to deliver power to the pot via the coil must operate at a relatively high frequency of 25-50 kHz when compared with motor drive inverters. In order to reduce the switching losses in the IGBTs, the typical circuit topology is based up on resonant converters. Soft-switching circuit operation greatly reduces power losses during the switching transient in IGBTs providing high efficiency circuit operation. Many companies have developed optimized IGBT structures for this application due to the large market size.