A novel bridgeless boost half-bridge ZVS-PWM single-stage utility frequency AC-high frequency ac resonant converter for domestic induction heaters

A new prototype of a single-stage utility ac (UFAC) to high-frequency ac (HFAC) resonant power converter for domestic induction heating (IH) applications is presented in this paper. The high frequency resonant ac-ac converter proposed herein can process UFAC to HFAC power conversion without any diode full-bridge rectifier stage, thereby reducing the number of semiconductor power devices and eliminating the relevant conduction power losses. In addition, power factor correction (PFC) can be achieved by the front-end inductor-based ac chopper operation with boosting the UFAC source voltage to a non-smoothed dc link voltage. The operation principle together with a IH load power regulation scheme is described, and the actual performances are demonstrated in an experiment with a 2.8kW-30 kHz laboratory prototype. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed ac-ac converter is evaluated from a practical point of view.