DC-Gain Measurement of the Frequency-to-Output Power Transfer Function Based on Sidebands for Domestic Induction Heating Applications

This paper analyzes different alternatives to obtain the dc gain of the frequency-to-output power transfer function of a series half-bridge resonant inverter for domestic induction heating. In this application, a full-wave rectified bus voltage usually feeds the inverter, and a constant switching frequency is applied during each half-period of the mains voltage. This dc gain is the derivative of the output power with respect to the frequency. A finite difference approximation to the derivative can be obtained measuring the output power during two consecutive half-periods of the mains voltage by injecting a small frequency increment in the second one. This paper compares five alternatives to estimate the gain in only one half-period of the mains, what would allow to increase the controller bandwidth. The alternatives are based on the computation of the DTFS of the sidebands. They are off-line implemented and experimentally verified. The proposed method can also be implemented in real time into a digital controller.