Search

Electroporation is a phenomenon that increases the permeability of cells by applying an electric field. This technique has relevant applications to cancer treatment using both electrochemotherapy and tumor ablation using irreversible electroporation. In order to carry out these treatments, new power converters are needed to apply of output voltages of several kV and output currents of tens of A in pulses of a width of μs. In addition, to achieve safe and relapse-free treatments, it is necessary to generate a controlled and uniform electric field. A challenge in current treatments is to ensure effective treatments despite tissue heterogeneity. In this context, this article proposes a new pulse generator that allows the use of a multielectrode structure that enables the application of a uniform electric field in multiple directions to avoid issues related to tissue heterogeneity. The proposed generator also allows the continuous monitoring of the treatment to adequately control the generator and apply a safer and more effective treatment. An 18-output 1500-V experimental prototype was designed, implemented, and tested using vegetal tissue, proving the feasibility of this proposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial induction heating (IH) is a key manufacturing process due to its benefits in terms of efficiency, accurate output power control, and high performance. These features have made possible the extension of this technology to a wide range of industries from automotive to aeronautic, domestic, or renewable energies. One of the main challenges still present is the design of a high-performance and cost-effective process for those induction targets with complex geometries exposed to the magnetic field, being the most representative example gears present in most mechanical systems. Usually, in order to optimize the heating process, multifrequency IH systems are used, being often expensive and/or difficult to tune and control. The aim of this paper is, consequently, to propose a family of power converters able to supply the inductor system with two simultaneous frequencies in order to improve the heating process of the induction target. The proposed converter takes advantage of a multiresonant network allowing full control of the output power delivered at each frequency and, at the same time, a compact and cost-effective implementation. The proposed converter is analyzed, designed, and implemented, and experimental verification of its operation is provided in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible cooking surfaces represent the most innovative and high-performance induction heating appliances nowadays. This paper presents a multiple-output resonant inverter for multicoil systems featuring high efficiency and flexible output power control for modern induction heating appliances. By adopting a matrix structure, the number of controlled devices can be significantly reduced while high control versatility is ensured. The proposed converter is first analyzed and, in order to prove the feasibility of the proposal, a multiple-output prototype is designed and implemented. The experimental results prove the correct converter operation and output power control with multiple induction heating loads, validating the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Induction heating has become the most advance heating process due to benefits, such as efficiency, performance, cleanness, and safety. In this process, the electromagnetic coupling between the induction coil and the induction target is a key, determining the heating performance as well as the resonant power converter operation. This letter proposes an accurate and cost-effective resonant tank identification method applied to induction heating systems. It is based on monitoring the resonant capacitor voltage in order to calculate the resonant tank quality factor. The proposed methodology has been tested using a versatile power electronics test bench applied to domestic induction heating, proving the feasibility of this proposal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Induction heating technology is leading technical advances in home appliances due to the benefits inherent to the contactless energy transfer including high efficiency, fast heating, safety, cleanness, and accurate control, among others. Recent design trends are focused on developing more versatile cooking appliances for an improved user performance. To achieve such implementations, new multicoil architectures and power converters must be developed. This paper proposes the series-resonant multiinverter as an efficient, versatile, and cost-effective alternative to supply multiinductor systems. One of the main design challenges is the high blocking voltage of power devices, which may compromise the converter performance. This paper proposes an optimized modulation strategy to reduce the maximum device voltage, enabling an optimized converter design with improved reliability and performance. The proposed modulation is analytically studied and tested using a multicoil induction heating converter prototype, proving the feasibility of this proposal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Induction heating systems are the technology of choice in many industrial, domestic, and medical applications due to its high performance. The core component of such systems is the power supply, which is usually composed of a rectifier stage and a resonant inverter. In order to simplify and further optimize the performance of the power supply, a class-E direct ac–ac converter featuring multicycle modulations is proposed in this paper. The proposed converter is composed of two switching devices that enable the direct ac–ac conversion. Single- and multicycle operation modes have been analytically described to prove the benefits, in terms of peak voltage reduction and output power control capabilities. A prototype featuring SiC junction-gate field-effect transistor devices, which perfectly fit these applications, has been designed and built to prove the feasibility of the proposed converter. The experimental results match the analytical results and validate the benefits of this converter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Efficiency is a key design parameter when designing the power converters for domestic induction heating applications, since it determines not only the environmental impact of the power converter but also its final performance and reliability. In this paper, the design of high-efficiency converters for induction heating applications is discussed, focusing on the advantages of using wide bandgap devices. As a conclusion, a multiple-output boost resonant ac-ac converter is proposed, significantly improving current state-of-the-art efficiency and achieving a reduced component-count solution for multiple-load systems. The proposed converter has been tested through a dual-output boost resonant inverter for domestic induction heating applications. The design procedure is detailed, including the design of an optimized gate drive circuit for this application. Experimental results show significant improvements in efficiency in the whole operating range, and an accurate output power control, proving the benefits and feasibility of the proposed SiC-based converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the analysis and design of a new ac-ac resonant converter applied to domestic induction heating. The proposed topology, based on the half-bridge series resonant inverter, uses only two diodes to rectify the mains voltage. The proposed converter can operate with zero-voltage switching during both switch-on and switch-off transitions. Moreover, this topology doubles the output voltage, and therefore, the current in the load is reduced for the same output power. As a consequence, the converter efficiency is significantly improved. The analytical and simulation results have been verified by means of a 3600-W induction heating prototype. An efficiency study has been carried out, obtaining values higher than 96%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]