Design and Experimental Analysis of PFC Rectifiers for Domestic Induction Heating Applications

Induction heating is nowadays a key technology due to its advantages in terms of performance and efficiency, which has boosted its adoption in industrial, domestic, and medical applications, among others. Recent developments in domestic induction heating are focused on flexible cooking surfaces with higher output power. The design requirements of this cooktops are more restrictive due to electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), power density, efficiency, control complexity, and cost. In order to overcome these issues, the use of active power factor corrector (PFC) rectifiers is proposed. This paper proposes and analyzes a complete set of modulation strategies for a single-phase boost-type PFC applied to domestic induction heating. A comparative analysis is performed taking into account the device stress, efficiency, operating frequency, control complexity, and EMC performance. This discussion reveals the advantages and disadvantages of each modulation strategy according to the final implementation requirements and the application area.