POWER CONTROL UNIT FOR HIGH-FREQUENCY DIELECTRIC HEATING AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF

• US 20090272735A1
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Published: 11/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Moriya, Hideaki, Sakai, Shinichi, Suenaga, Haruo, Shirokawa, Nobuo, Kinoshita, Manabu, Yasui, Kenji
• Application Number:
  US12/303,035
• Publication Number:
  US 20090272735A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 219/702
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 6/685 the measurements being made at the low voltage side of the circuit
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 40/00 Technologies aiming at improving the efficiency of home appliances, e.g. induction cooking or efficient technologies for refrigerators, freezers or dish washers

Abstract

A power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating not affected by variations in the magnetron type or characteristic, and power supply voltage fluctuation, etc., is provided. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating has an input current detection section 71, 72 for detecting input current of an inverter 10 for rectifying 31 an AC power supply voltage 20, performing high-frequency switching of the voltage, and converting the voltage to high-frequency power. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating converts a switching frequency control signal 92 provided by mixing input current waveform information 90 and power control information 91 into a drive signal of a semiconductor switching element 3, 4 of the inverter.

Claims

1. A power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating for controlling an inverter for driving a magnetron wherein a series circuit made up of at least one set or more of at least two semiconductor switching elements, a resonance circuit, and a leakage transformer are connected to a DC power supply provided by rectifying a voltage of an AC power supply, a switching frequency of the semiconductor switching element is modulated to be converted into high-frequency power, and output occurring on the secondary side of the leakage transformer is applied to the magnetron for energizing the magnetron, the power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating comprising:

an input current detection section which detects an input current input to the inverter from the AC power supply and outputs input current waveform information; and

a conversion section which converts the input current waveform information into a drive signal of the semiconductor switching element of the inverter so as to suppress instantaneous fluctuation of the input current waveform information.

5. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a mixer being connected between the input current detection section and the conversion section to mix the input current waveform information and power control information for controlling so that the current or the voltage at an arbitrary point of the inverter becomes a predetermined value to generate a switching frequency control signal,

wherein the conversion section converts the switching frequency control signal into the drive signal so as to raise the switching frequency in a portion where the input current is large and lower the switching frequency in a portion where the input current is small.

9. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the conversion section includes a frequency limitation section which sets an upper limit and a lower limit to the high-frequency switching frequency.

10. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the conversion section further includes a duty control section which controls the on-duty of the high-frequency switching, and

wherein an operation range of the duty control section is set so as to complement by duty control at least a range in which the high-frequency switching frequency is limited to an upper limit of a frequency limitation section.

11. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a mixer being connected between the input current detection section and the conversion section to mix the input current waveform information and power control information for controlling so that the current or the voltage at an arbitrary point of the inverter becomes a predetermined value to generate a switching frequency control signal,

wherein the mixer mixes the input current waveform information and power control information for controlling so that output of the input current detection section becomes a predetermined value to generate a switching frequency control signal.

14. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a mixer being connected between the input current detection section and the conversion section to mix the input current waveform information and power control information for controlling so that the current or the voltage at an arbitrary point of the inverter becomes a predetermined value to generate a switching frequency control signal,

wherein the input current waveform information is input directly to the mixer, and the mixer then inverts the directly-input input current waveform information and mixes the inverted information with the power control information.

16. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the input current detection section has a current transformer which detects the input current and a rectifier which rectifies the detected input current and outputs the rectified current.

17. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a comparator which makes a comparison between the input current and an output setting signal to output the power control information.

18. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the input current detection section detects and outputs a unidirectional current after rectifying the input current of the inverter.

19. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a mixer being connected between the input current detection section and the conversion section to mix the input current waveform information and power control information for controlling so that the current or the voltage at an arbitrary point of the inverter becomes a predetermined value to generate a switching frequency control signal,

wherein the input current detection section has a shunt resistor which detects a unidirectional current after the input current of the inverter is rectified and an amplifier which amplifies a voltage occurring across the shunt resistor,

wherein output provided by the amplifier is input directly to the mixer as the input current waveform information, and

wherein the power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating further comprises a comparator which makes a comparison between the output provided by the amplifier and an output setting signal and outputs the power control information.

20. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1, further comprising

a mixer being connected between the input current detection section and the conversion section to mix the input current waveform information and power control information for controlling so that the current or the voltage at an arbitrary point of the inverter becomes a predetermined value to generate a switching frequency control signal,

wherein the mixer has a configuration which cuts a high-frequency component of the power control information.

21. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a mixer being connected between the input current detection section and the conversion section to mix the input current waveform information and power control information for controlling so that the current or the voltage at an arbitrary point of the inverter becomes a predetermined value to generate a switching frequency control signal,

wherein the mixer has a circuit configuration switched between an increase control time of the input current and a decrease control time of the input current.

22. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a mixer being connected between the input current detection section and the conversion section to mix the input current waveform information and power control information for controlling so that the current or the voltage at an arbitrary point of the inverter becomes a predetermined value to generate a switching frequency control signal,

wherein in the mixer, a time constant increases at an increase control time of the input current and decreases at a decrease control time of the input current.

23. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a mixer being connected between the input current detection section and the conversion section to mix the input current waveform information and power control information for controlling so that the current or the voltage at an arbitrary point of the inverter becomes a predetermined value to generate a switching frequency control signal,

wherein resonance circuit voltage control information for controlling the resonance circuit voltage to a predetermined value is input to the mixer and a circuit configuration of the mixer is switched in response to the magnitude of the resonance circuit voltage.

24. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a mixer being connected between the input current detection section and the conversion section to mix the input current waveform information and power control information for controlling so that the current or the voltage at an arbitrary point of the inverter becomes a predetermined value to generate a switching frequency control signal,

wherein in the mixer, a time constant increases when the resonance circuit voltage is low, and decreases when the resonance circuit voltage is high.

25. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the input current detection section has a filter circuit which attenuates a high frequency spectral region of the AC power supply and a high-frequency portion of a high switching frequency, etc.

26. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the input voltage detection section includes:

a set of diodes for detecting an input voltage input to the inverter from the AC power supply; and

a shaping circuit for shaping the waveform of the input voltage detected by the diodes and outputting the shaped voltage.

27. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 26,

wherein the shaping circuit has a configuration for attenuating a high frequency spectral region of the input voltage.

28. The power control unit for a high-frequency dielectric heating as claimed in claim 1,

wherein the conversion section is implemented as a frequency modulation circuit for superposing a carrier wave having a frequency set according to the switching frequency control signal and a slice control signal to generate the drive signal of the semiconductor switching element.

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31. A power control method for high-frequency dielectric heating of controlling an inverter for rectifying a voltage of an AC power supply, modulating a high switching frequency of a semiconductor switching element, and conducting conversion into high-frequency power, the power control method for high-frequency dielectric heating comprising:

detecting an input current input to the inverter from the AC power supply;

acquiring input current waveform information corresponding to the input current; and

converting the input current waveform information into a drive signal of the semiconductor switching element of the inverter so as to suppress instantaneous fluctuation of the input current waveform information.