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30 KVA Induction Heater

By bwang in Circuits > Electronics 496,863 707 277 Featured

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Introduction

Induction heaters are used to heat conductive materials in a non-contact process. Commercially,
they are used for heat treating, brazing, soldering, etc., as well as to melt and forge iron, steel,
and aluminum.
This Instructable will walk you through the construction of a high-power (30kVA) heater, suitable
for melting aluminum and steel. Note that to take full advantage of this design, you will need a
220V outlet, at least a 50A single-phase one and preferably a 50A or 60A 3-phase outlet.

About the author:

Bayley Wang (me) is a EE student at MIT. I'm responsible for a variety of nefarious power
electronics projects which you can nd on my blog; perhaps most interestingly is oneTesla,
which has since gained a life of its own as a startup creating DRSSTC kits.

WARNINGS

This project uses mains voltage. While well-behaved, 110/220 mains can seriously injure,
maim, and/or kill you if used improperly.
The voltage across the tank capacitor can potentially ring up to hundreds of volts. Don't let
the 20:1 step-down ratio fool you!
When scoping the circuit, beware of ground loops.
The work piece, naturally, can get very hot. DO NOT TOUCH! Less obviously, do not rapidly
quench the work piece with water, as this can lead to dangerous sputtering.
This project uses power electronics. Under fault conditions, semiconductor devices used in
this project may rapidly heat, vent, and/or release rapidly moving shrapnel. Shield
appropriately.

WIth that said and done, let us move on.

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Step 1: Bill of Materials

For this build, you will need:

2 IGBT half-bridge modules. I used Powerex CM400DU-12F 400A 600V Dual IGBTs; anything of
similar power handling and switching speed should work. These can be purchased as cheap
surplus from Ebay.
4 MOSFETs or IGBTs for the gate drive. I used HGTG30N60B3D's, which are way overkill for the
application. They need to be able to dissipate about 30W without burning up.
2 gate drive IC's, of at least 9A peak current capability. I use the UCC37322 from TI.
2 ferrite toroids. These are your gate drive transformers, and should be able to pass a
reasonably clean square wave at 50 kHz. Magnetics, Inc. and TSC Ferrite International are good
manufacturers, or you can salvage them from old CRTs or switching power supplies. The
powered iron cores from ATX supplies rarely work.
Large ferrite toroids for the toroidial coupling transfromer.
1 TL494 PWM IC.
1 at least 20 uF, at least 20V lm or ceramic capacitor.
Assorted resistors, capacitors, and potentiometers for the driver.
10' of 1/4" soft copper refrigeration tubing.
A water block capable of accommodating the two IGBTs. A large heatsink may also work, but I
haven't tried.
2 aluminum or copper bars, ~3/4"x8"
2 1/4" compression unions
A 4-position rotary contactor, good for several tens of amps.
A screw-terminal electrolytic capacitor of reasonable quality. I recommend at least a few
hundred uF for 3-phase operation.
A high-quality, low inductance snubber capacitor for the bridge. Ebay has cute brick-mount
20 uF blocks for $5.
One or more high-quality polypropylene capacitors for the tank capacitor. More on this part
later.
An analog current meter good for several tens of amps.
A 3-phase bridge recti er (or single-phase if you are willing to settle for single-phase
operation only).
A suitable project case and associated hardware (3-phase breaker, cord, plug, etc).
A water pump capable of a couple GPM
Tubing appropriate for hooking up the water-cooling.
A Variac for testing.

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Step 2: Words of Wisdom

The IGBTs: or "bricks", as we like to call them. They should be good for 600V (not a concern, I've
never seen a brick rated under that before), at least 200A (I use 400A modules to be, safe), and
more importantly, need to be fast. This is where you need to check the datasheet - IGBTs have an
inherently long turn-o delay. For 65 kHz operation, rise time + turn-on delay + turn-o delay +
fall time should be under 2 uS.
Bricks come in several types: single-transistor, dual transistor, 6-pack, and some rarer types such
as chopper modules. Single-transistor modules are prevalent for 1200V and larger IGBTs, and
have the highest thermal ratings and are the most di cult to mount. Duals (half-bridge
modules) are the much easier to mount and can dissipate less. They are most common for 600V
modules. 6-packs are used for 3-phase inverters, require no external power connections, and
have the lowest thermal ratings.
Use what you see t; this tutorial uses half-bridge modules.

The tank capacitor: is very very important. It handles tremendous amounts of reactive power at
very high frequencies. It is absolutely essential that this part be selected appropriately. It must
be a high-quality polypropylene or mica capacitor. I use giant snubber capacitors made by
Eurofarad; alternatively, a series/parallel array of smaller capacitors (such as the Tesla coiler's
beloved CDE942 series) should work. The ultimate capacitor, of course, is a water or conduction-
cooled unit made by Celem, but such caps will run you about $150 for a 2 uF unit. You want
enough capacitance to resonate with your work coil at no more than 70 kHz.

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Step 3: Principle of Operation

Induction heaters function by surrounding the work piece with a coil carrying a high-frequency
(kHz to low MHz) alternating current. This induces eddy currents in the work piece, which acts as
a shorted 1-turn transformer secondary. The currents can be tremendous, on the order of several
thousands of amps. This causes high I^2R losses in the work piece, heating it.

Schematic Description
Note: Ignore the transistor model numbers; I just used what Eagle had built in.

IC1 is a TL494 acting as an oscillator with adjustable dead time and frequency. The output is fed
into the input of two UCC37322 9A gate drive ICs, which "beef up" the signal into something
capable of driving high-capacitance transistor gates. The output signal is passed through C5 to
insure only the AC component reaches GDT1, a gate drive transformer. This transformer provides
the electrical isolation necessary to drive Q1 through Q4, which form a full-bridge. This
intermediate bridge is necessary to provide the high average power necessary to drive Q5
through Q8, a full-bridge of large IGBT modules.
This bridge forms the main inverter. The output of this inverter is stepped down through a 20:1
torodial transformer TR_MATCH, which provides impedance matching as well as isolation for
L_WORK, the work coil inductor. The capacitor C_TANK forms a resonant LC circuit with L_WORK;
when driven at resonance, this circuit displays zero reactive impedance to the inverter, allowing
for higher powers and minimizing switching losses in the inverter.

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Step 4: Construction: Controller

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Construct the logic circuit as you wish, either by using the attached images to make boards or
using perfboard or a breadboard.
The gate drive transformers must be able to pass a high-quality square wave at your operating
frequency. To check this, wind 10+10 turns on the toroid, connect one set of windings to a signal
generator, and scope across the other. The output should look like a reasonable square wave.
The GDT should be wound with 5 twisted wires to minimize leakage inductance. Many people
have had luck with using CAT5 cable, which comes pre-twisted.

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Step 5: The Inverter

The inverter should be very well-cooled, either with a large heatsink or a waterblock. I used a
waterblock for compactness and robustness; but a big (think 12"x12"x3" with several hundred
CFM of forced-air cooling) should work too. The pump should be relatively large to handle the
pressure drop through the work coil (mine was rated for 2GPM).
The main ltering capacitors should be placed close to the bridge itself, preferably bolted across
the busbars. You should also use a snubber capacitor (the black box in the picture) placed
directly across the transistors to reduce voltage spikes caused by excitation of the parasitic
inductances in the inverter layout.
Using half-bridge or six-pack modules is the easiest way to buld the inverter; a bridge of single
transistors will require access to a machine shop to do right.

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Step 6: Work Coil/Tank Circuit

The coupling transformer should be toroidal. Wind ~20t around some large ferrite cores (I was
using a stack of 4 ~4"x1" cores).
The tank capacitor willget warm. It should have signi cant terminal area to conduct both heat
and thousands of amps. If you are using a MMC of small capacitors, solder them individually to
large copper plates. If you are using a Celem or a giant snubber, bolt large copper plates to the
terminals. Then in either case, solder the terminals to the copper tubing that forms the rest of
the tank circuit.
Attach the work coil to the tank circuit using compression ttings; this allows you to change
work coils to accommodate di erent loads.
Make the work coil out of at least 1/4" copper tubing. Thicker tubing is less lossy, but harder to
handle; trade-o between the two as you see t. When winding the work coil, it helps to ll it
with sand to prevent the tubing from collapsing. As a rule of thumb, the resistance of 1'
diameter copper tubing at 65 KHz is 0.8 mΩ/m; that is, to compute the resistance of your
secondary, multiply 0.8 mΩ by its length and divide by its diameter in inches.

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Step 7: Testing and Usage

Assemble everything according to the schematic. Use a current transformer on the primary side
(100t burdened with a couple ohms around a ferrite toroid will do) to monitor the waveforms.
Using a current-limited bench supply (preferably 30V, 10A), slowly ramp up the voltage until
enough current is drawn to give a clear reading on the 'scope. Adjust the frequency pot until the
waveform is a clean sinewave, and current draw is maximized (you may have to search a little to
avoid harmonics). If you don't have a scope, just tune until current is maximized (mine drew
something like 40A at 200VDC on the bus, unloaded).
With ~30V on the bus, load the work coil with a bolt. At a few hundred watts in, it should get hot
within a couple minutes. If it draws power, but the workpiece doesn't get hot, check the
transistors for heating. If they get excessively hot, your bridge is shooting through.
If all is well at low powers, you are ready for a high-power test. Use your favorite DC source
(single phase, three-phase, smoothed, unsmoothed, etc - it doesn't really matter) to power the
bridge. Preferably, use a Variac, in case it draws too much current (you can predict current draw
from the low-power tests by noting that the heater is a fairly linear load). Don't forget water
cooling!
At a few kilowatts, without a crucible, you can melt aluminum and copper and make steel
orange-hot. 10 KW+ (50A dryer/stove line or 3-phase) is necessary to melt steel in open air. A
crucible helps a lot.
You can control power by very slightly detuning the inverter, or by changing the bus voltage, or
by tapping the matching transformer. The latter is a recommended feature, and steel and copper
have very di erent e ective "resistances".
Good luck, and have fun!

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Step 8: Sources for Components

By popular demand, I've added this page.

For the power components, one word - EBAY.

EBAY EBAY EBAY. There is no way this project could have been remotely a ordable without it. For
the IGBT's, the most reliable source is CTR Surplus, who goes by the usernames ctr_surplus,
deals_ctrsurplus, and lisa_ctrsurplus. CTR Surplus also has a constant supply of large electrolytic
capacitors, snubbers, and heatsinks used in this project.
The capacitors are also from CTR Surplus - a search for "Eurofarad" works wonders.
Copper tubing is best purchased from Home Depot (assuming you live in the US). They have
prices that beat most Internet sources.
The toroids can be from Magnetics, Inc or TSC Ferrite International.
Miscellaneous small components can be purchased from Digi-key.
Arrow has very good prices on transistors, far lower than most other suppliers.

Submitted by MITERS for the Instructables Sponsorship Program

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277 Discussions

mightymousejr 1 day ago

Reply / Upvote
I apologize for asking a question that has been asked a million times. Can i please have the schematic
emailed to me in a pdf format if you have it. If not, any format will do. Thank you for any help you can
give. I cant wait to build this project.
My email is gatech1973@gmail.com

MarkO170 6 months ago

Reply / Upvote
I built a heater based on this circuit. I used the same IGBT bricks as the author and the same basic
architecture - low power oscillator section driving a transformer in turn driving an intermediate stage
which then drives another transformer to drive the bricks.

I have to commend the author for putting this here.

I don't have access to 3 phase power - and am using a 30 amp dryer (single phase 240 volt) outlet.
I'd like to pass along some things I found out along the way.

These IGBT bricks require a lot of drive and it surprised my how careful
I had to be with the driving stage. I went through several iterations
of this before I got a circuit that didn't cause ringing on the IGBT
bricks or burn itself up trying to drive them. There were very high
current pulses being drawn from the 15 volt power supply, causing failures in - think catching
fire/exploding - smoothing caps. Adding series
gate resistors for the IGBT brick gates (3.6 ohm/5w) helped as well as
using a 20uf poly cap across the rails.

If your tank circuit has high Q it can ring up to a voltage that might astound you. I've seen more than
500 volts across the tank capacitor. And it's difficult - i.e. expensive - to find capacitors that can handle
this voltage without becoming damaged. Once there's a load in the work coil the voltage drops but it
still can be several hundred volts. Choose your tank capacitor wisely!
I used one of the LC4 series made by Illinois Capacitor which are conduction cooled caps made for
this purpose.
The turn-to-turn voltage across the work coil can also be high and the hazard of either contacting it -
and getting a potent shock, which I can attest to - or the workpiece causing a short by contacting it is
present. I got some ceramic sleeving from McMaster-Carr which I put over the work coil tubing that
mitigates this danger.

I get about 4KW being consumed which is close to the max for a 30 amp circuit. 6-8KW might be
possible for a 50amp circuit. By far the biggest heat producer is the work coil. Even with 3/8 tubing it
generates a lot of heat and water cooling is a must. I haven't found that the IGBT bricks generate much
heat at all, at this power level they're loafing.

You must also consider the ESR of your main filter cap. Even with a snubber across the power rails at
the IGBT bricks it's still going to see a fair amount of current. Don't use a cheap cap here, you might
get a hot capacitor or worse a spectacular failure. Better yet parallel two or more. Before doing long
runs with it make sure your caps aren't heating up excessively.

Also the power factor of this circuit is not good. You can improve it by putting an inductor in series with
the mains going into the rectifier. I used a 1.7uh inductor - all I had room for - and my power factor
running at 3.5KW is about 66%. Others may have better ideas on how to improve this, but if you want
to run at truly high power levels it needs to be addressed.

All in all a fun project and I learned a lot - and am still learning - along the way!

1 reply F

Helaman Question 4 weeks ago

Answer / Upvote
So question... I imagine the wire gauge used on the coupling transformer(four large ferrite cores) is
6awg. According to this website, https://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm, the maximum
frequency that 6awg can be operated at with 100% skin effect is 1100hz. Any frequency over 1100hz
will cause there to be more effective resistance. So my question is, how do you account for the high
resistance due to operating at around 50-70khz? How do you get rid of this resistance from the skin
affect? As I see it, your wire around the ferrite cores will have a lot of resistance and most likely heat
up and burn due to energy loss from the added resistance.

sattarubied33 Question 4 weeks ago

Answer / Upvote
Could you, please, send me schematics of this project? I need them for my project
thank you
sattarubied33@gmail .com

cyber31 Question 6 weeks ago

Answer / Upvote
We are students of electronic technical school, Please send the diagram by e-mail?
My email romek.atomek1956@gmail.com

haritha10 2 months ago

Reply / Upvote
Hi firend!
I like your project and I believe I can do it.
Can you send me the schematic of the 30 KVA induction heater?
If possible, send me email: harith.alubaidy0@gmail.com
Thanks....

babak.hazrati 2 months ago

Reply / Upvote
Hi

Can you mail me the schematic to babak.hazrati@gmail.com.com please.

Thanks

reihanrezaee 3 months ago

Reply / Upvote
Dear Sir,

Could you, please, send me schematics of this project? I need them for my project
(reihanrezaee@gmail.com)

Thank you.

Best Regards,
Reyhan rezaee.

Naeem54 3 months ago

Reply / Upvote
Kindly Could you please mail me the schematic?
My email is naeemansar58@gmail.com

aself73 Question 3 months ago on Step 3

Answer / Upvote
Can this heat up and melt platinum?

evanjcook983 Question 3 months ago on Introduction

Answer / Upvote
Pardon I'm new to EE would it be possible to get a for dummies version with more detailed steps or the
name of a store where i could find someone who could help.

goldenshuttle Tip 6 months ago

Reply / Upvote
You probably can modify single induction cooktop, replacing the pancake element with a pipe loop.
This may save time and cost..what do you think ?

williamsurh4 Question 6 months ago

Answer / Upvote
Hey man, I'm doing a school project on something and I kinda need to make something like this.

Can I get any additional schematics?

My email is williamsurh4@gmail.com
Thanks

kendall.hallmark Question 7 months ago

Answer / Upvote
I would appreciate a more detailed schematic, as well as specific parts that would work for the tank
capacitor and the input capacitor. I also cant find (based on what I see here), where the 4 phase switch
is. Please send these to kendall.hallmark@csd8.info.
Thank you.

andreua 8 months ago

Reply / Upvote
Hi there,

Just wanted to do know is there is a way/formula to calculate the ciculating current in the coil from all
the process parameters?

many thanks

REDMACHINE-A 8 months ago on Step 8

Reply / Upvote
Can someone HELP me please? I really would be grateful. I already read several times these
instructions and: 1)What for and where connect that 4-position rotary connector? 2) what the
exact specs of the main capacitors? About capacitors i found throught ebay the
square black box connected on first IGVT is a snubber with specs 20uF and 800V
- where to find this one? At ebay only have 2nd hand... The other capacitor at the
2nd IGVT can read at scheme specs are 920uF polarized - But how many volts?? -
where to buy? And the last one of tank circuit same problem - Can read at
scheme is a 3.75uF and also a "high-quality polypropylene or mica giant
snubber capacitor" - How many volts?? - Where to buy?

I really would appreciate if someone could give me

a help buiding this nice project and so useful it would be to me. My contact is vfr998@gmail.com .
Thanks in advance and best regards to all.
Paulo. Hope to listen from
you soon.

REDMACHINE-A 8 months ago

Reply / Upvote
Dear Mr. Wang,
I am very interested to build this induction machine. My purpose is to melt some special alloys like
inconel and i need some powerful small equipment to do that. I need to melt around 90cm3 each time
to cast a turbine wheel with my own shape for an rc jet engine, using lost wax procedure. This is the
reason why i need a small but powerful equipment. And about power i would like to know if your project
can deliver 30 Kw of power once i could not convert 30 Kva due lack of power factor. I also will use
220v AC. I tried a ZVS inductor... without sucess.
So, if you please could sent to me a clear and complete schematics, more details about construction
and links where i could order the main parts, i would be very gratefull.
Great project! Congratulations!
Thank you and best regards,
Paulo
Contact: vfr998@gmail.com

shree79blr 9 months ago

Reply / Upvote
Please send me the complete schematic to shree79blr@gmail.com

shree79blr Question 9 months ago

Answer / Upvote
Please send me the schematics & components list to my email id shree79blr@gmail.com

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