Induction Heater IGBT help

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yappers

Joined Apr 13, 2010
16
I'm trying to build neon john's induction heater (schematic is attached) but I'm trying to mod it in order to heat up large flat small metal sheets and since I'm using 120 VAC, I won't be drawing more then 15A. However, my problem is that my transistors, the IRFP460 are blowing up on me when I send in my 170 VDC. My schematic is similar to the one neon john has, but with some slight differences shown listed below

  1. R1 in the schematic is altered in such a way that it will give me a max of 50% duty ratio
  2. the resistor on RT of the TL494 is a 10k and is non adjustable (fixed frequency)
  3. C4, C5 and C9 are all film capacitors from epcos.
  4. C10 is roughly .66 uF and is gotten from putting three film capacitors in parallel
  5. L2 is made of two different coils, both 12 gauge. One is rated for .024mH and the other is rated for .0268mH. It is similar to a bifilar coil but arranged differently. See attachment for the coil. The red in the picture means it is connected at those points

    If anyone can give me some advice, I appreciate it



 

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wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
What frequency are you running?

Those MOSFETs are borderline for your application. The quoted amperage of 18.4A is not much above your expected current. My personal rule of thumb is to go at least 4X, spec compared to continuous current expected. The spec is for ideal conditions you don't likely have, like a giant heat sink.
 

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yappers

Joined Apr 13, 2010
16
What frequency are you running?

Those MOSFETs are borderline for your application. The quoted amperage of 18.4A is not much above your expected current. My personal rule of thumb is to go at least 4X, spec compared to continuous current expected. The spec is for ideal conditions you don't likely have, like a giant heat sink.
According to oscilloscope, my square wave (50% duty ratio) from my TL494 is about 250kHz oh and I do have a giant heat sink that is attached to both my IGBT/MOSFET It is 4.230" Wide x 3" long for each one. Also, what do you mean by "quoted amperage"?
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
According to oscilloscope, my square wave (50% duty ratio) from my TL494 is about 250kHz oh and I do have a giant heat sink that is attached to both my IGBT/MOSFET It is 4.230" Wide x 3" long for each one. Also, what do you mean by "quoted amperage"?
I mean that's what the datasheet says, 18.4A max continuous current at 25°C. Notice how that rating drops to 11.6A at 100°C. That tells me that your 15A is very near the upper spec for this MOSFET.

Add to that your "fast" switching, with a rise and fall time on each cycle. Any time not fully on or off makes heat.

Add to that the voltage drop. The current spec was quoted at ∆V=10v, I think. You're at 170V and, in short, well outside the safe operating area.
 

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yappers

Joined Apr 13, 2010
16
I mean that's what the datasheet says, 18.4A max continuous current at 25°C. Notice how that rating drops to 11.6A at 100°C. That tells me that your 15A is very near the upper spec for this MOSFET.

Add to that your "fast" switching, with a rise and fall time on each cycle. Any time not fully on or off makes heat.

Add to that the voltage drop. The current spec was quoted at ∆V=10v, I think. You're at 170V and, in short, well outside the safe operating area.
Oh OK, now I see what you're trying to say.

So from the looks of your comment, I should look to either getting better IGBT/MOSFET or reduce the switching frequency.
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
...I should look to either getting better IGBT/MOSFET or reduce the switching frequency.
Yup. You could add parallel MOSFETs but I think you'd get more bang for your buck by just choosing more robust MOSFETs. I use IRF540N for general purpose stuff but I'm not so sure about using them at your frequency.

I could be wrong, but I think your inductive output is proportional to the frequency? So reducing the frequency would have a negative impact on the heating.
 

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yappers

Joined Apr 13, 2010
16
...I use IRF540N for general purpose stuff but I'm not so sure about using them at your frequency.
I'll go look for some more robust FETs. But your comment have me curious. Since I'm going to be using them for high frequency, is there a particular trait I should be looking on the FETs datasheet that I should be paying attention to when switching at a high frequency?
 

crutschow

Joined Mar 14, 2008
34,281
...................... I use IRF540N for general purpose stuff but I'm not so sure about using them at your frequency. ....................
The switching speed of most MOSFETs is usually determined by how fast you can charge and discharge the gate capacitance so the speed of the transistor itself is not a limiting factor. For example the IRF540N data sheet states a switching rise and fall times of 35ns, with a low impedance gate drive, which is fast enough for most power switching requirements.
 

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yappers

Joined Apr 13, 2010
16
Curious, why do you call your IRFP460's IGBT/MOSFETs?
To be honest, I tried other types of transistors as well which resulted into me using both IGBT and Power MOSFETs. It happened for way too long that I started mixing them up. Sad, I know.
 

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yappers

Joined Apr 13, 2010
16
OK. So the frequency was the problem. When I reduce the frequency to 25kHz, the system works just fine and when I increase the frequency, the FETs exploded and killed my MOSFET driver as well.

However, at 25kHz, my metal object aren't really heating up to the point where it is hot to touch.
 

CDRIVE

Joined Jul 1, 2008
2,219
Your schematic seems to indicate that the output circuit is supposed to be resonant. Am I wrong about this? If I'm not then changing the drive frequency without a corresponding change to the tank components would seem counter productive.
 

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yappers

Joined Apr 13, 2010
16
Your doing it wrong.

Heres a video of my ih project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_nxQapTmQU
Wow, you really melted that screw pretty well. But can you be a bit more specific on telling me what I'm doing wrong?



Your schematic seems to indicate that the output circuit is supposed to be resonant. Am I wrong about this? If I'm not then changing the drive frequency without a corresponding change to the tank components would seem counter productive.
You're not wrong. But it is obvious to me that I didn't design my resonant tank very well within the spec of the operating frequency. My speculation after looking at neon john's website again seem to indicate that the difference between our resonant tank is way too different to even be compared. But one difference I notice is that he used a lot more capacitors for his resonant tank. Right now, I'm trying to figure out the reason why this is needed and see if I can redesign my resonant tank.
 

CDRIVE

Joined Jul 1, 2008
2,219
You've mentioned neon john's website more than once but you've not posted a link to the inspiration of your design.
 
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