Impacts of high power induction heaters on power system

This paper presents the impacts of induction heating devices on power quality and describes how the influence spreads out to affect other electric appliances sharing the same supply source. Induction heaters possess the advantage of high efficiency because most of the electric energy can be converted for heating up an object. The core element of an induction heating system is an inductor-capacitor tank circuit operated around its resonant frequency. The heat transfer is a result of Joule effect. Foucault current is induced to circulate on the surface of the work piece and hence rises its temperature. A number of papers on circuit design have been published, which mainly focus on the improvement of efficiency, reducing the voltage and current stresses on the semiconductor switches, or on the issues of EMI. Few studies have been conducted to evaluate the influences of induction heaters on power quality with the consideration of the parameters of a practical power system.