IMPACTO-TEC project

The technical objective of the project is to develop an intelligent multi-point induction system, that is to say, one with several outputs that can work simultaneously, with the particularity that all the outputs will be controlled by a single control board. The intelligence of the system will be located precisely in this control board which will be equipped with different control techniques applicable to resonant converters (FM, PWM, mixed FM, PDM) and whose fundamental and revolutionary novelty in the market will be that the control strategy will be automatically chosen by the control board, depending on its operating mode, choosing the appropriate one at all times. Likewise, the system will incorporate a power factor corrector system that will allow reaching harmonic distortion factors (THD) lower than 2-3%, which also means an important technological advance since the distortion factors reached with the current active filters are 4-5%.

The general technical objectives of the project are:

• At the hardware level:
  • Design and implementation of a control board capable of controlling up to 6 outputs, with a frequency range from 500 Hz to 500 kHz.
  • Conception, design, development and experimental validation of a modular inverter system whose concept is independent of the inverter configuration (semi-bridge or full bridge), as well as the working frequency.
  • Design and implementation of a multi-output induction heating generator with up to 6 outputs in semi-bridge and up to 3 in full-bridge.
  • Research, design and implementation of a power factor correction Boost rectifier capable of obtaining THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) values of around 2-3 % or less.
• At software level:
  • New method of synchronism and power control (patent applied for), equipped of intelligence with the inclusion of an algorithm through which the FM, PWM or PDM control strategy will be selected as appropriate.
  • Likewise, the software required to control the active rectifier will be implemented by means of capacitive emulation techniques in which the rectifier modulates a current that, instead of being sinusoidal, contains the capacitive distortion generated by the capacitors, but of opposite sign, so that the distortion is cancelled in the network. The method provides sinusoidal network currents with THDi factors around 2% at nominal power, much lower than those obtained without this compensation.

Project summary

The scope of the project has focused on the development of the following technologies:

• Inverter in semi-bridge configuration as basic inverter unit. The full bridge configuration will be implemented from two basic units in semi-bridge configuration and with few interconnection changes.
• Intelligent electronic control board capable of governing up to six outputs simultaneously that will incorporate all the most common control strategies in induction heating applications whose selection will be made by the generator automatically and based on the optimum operating mode of the generator.
• Active rectifier in boost configuration for power factor correction controlled by capacitive emulation techniques.

This project has been co-funded by CDTI, and the European Union through the Operational Programme Smart Growth ERDF 2014-2020. The reference number of the project is EXP 00117307 / IDI-20190537.

Budget:
988.557 €

Duration:
07/02/2019 – 31/12/2020

Project Location:
GH ELECTROTERMIA, S.A.U.