Hybrid control scheme of active-clamped Class E inverter with induction heating jar for high power applications

A new hybrid control scheme of the active-clamped class E (ACCE) inverter for an induction heating jar is presented. The proposed hybrid control scheme has characteristics that act as a class E inverter at lower switch voltages and ACCE inverter at higher switch voltages than the reference voltage of the main switch by feeding back voltage of the switch and also has advantages of conventional ACCE inverter such as zero-voltage-switching of the main switch and the reduced switch voltage due to the clamping circuit. The proposed hybrid control method using ACCE inverter also has higher output power than the conventional control scheme since the ACCE inverter is operated like a Class E inverter at low input voltage. The principles of the proposed control are explained in detail and the validity of the proposed control scheme is verified through several simulated and experimental results.