Pulse density modulation control-based multi-load handling three leg inverter for cooking applications.

Purpose: Induction heating applications aided by power electronic control have become very attractive in the recent past. For cooking applications, power electronics circuits are very suitable to feed power to multi loads with an appropriate control technique. The purpose of this paper is to develop a three leg inverter to feed power to three loads simultaneously and independently. Design/methodology/approach: Pulse density modulation control technique is used to control the output power independently with constant switching frequency. Findings: Multi-load handling converter with independent power control is achieved with reduced number of switching devices (two switches/per load) with simple control strategy. Originality/value: The proposed system is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink, and the thermal analysis is carried out in COMSOL multi-physics software. The hardware realisation is performed for a 1 kW prototype with 20 kHz switching frequency and 10 kHz pulse density modulation frequency. PIC16F877A microcontroller is used to validate the experimental results for various values of control signals (DPDM). The simulation and experimental results are in good agreement and validates the developed system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]