Induction heating cooker

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11324079-B2
Application number	US-201716479488-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 24, 2017
Priority date	Mar 24, 2017
Publication date	May 3, 2022
Grant date	May 3, 2022

Abstract

An induction heating cooker includes a first coil, a second coil, a third coil, a first inverter circuit configured to supply a first high-frequency current to the first coil, a second inverter circuit configured to supply a second high-frequency current to the second coil, a third inverter circuit configured to supply a third high-frequency current to the third coil, a controller, and a load determining unit configured to determine a material of a heating object, wherein when a material of the heating object placed above the first coil is a magnetic material and a material of the heating object placed above the second coil includes a non-magnetic material, the controller operates the first inverter circuit and the second inverter circuit, and stops an operation of the third inverter circuit, and controls such that a frequency of the second high-frequency current is higher than a frequency of the first high-frequency current.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An induction heating cooker, comprising:
a first coil;
a second coil arranged outside the first coil;
a third coil arranged outside the second coil;
a first inverter circuit configured to supply a first high-frequency current to the first coil;
a second inverter circuit configured to supply a second high-frequency current to the second coil;
a third inverter circuit configured to supply a third high-frequency current to the third coil;
a controller configured to control driving of the first inverter circuit, the second inverter circuit, and the third inverter circuit; and
a load determining unit configured to determine a material of a heating object placed above each of the first coil, the second coil and the third coil,
wherein when a material of the heating object placed above the first coil is a magnetic material and a material of the heating object placed above the second coil and the third coil includes a non-magnetic material,
the controller operates the first inverter circuit and the second inverter circuit, and stops an operation of the third inverter circuit, and
controls such that a frequency of the second high-frequency current is higher than a frequency of the first high-frequency current.

2. The induction heating cooker of claim 1 , wherein
the controller sets a frequency of the second high-frequency current at a frequency set according to the non-magnetic material.

3. The induction heating cooker of claim 1 , wherein
the controller controls such that the frequency of the second high-frequency current is higher than the frequency of the first high-frequency current by not less than an upper limit of an audible frequency range.

4. The induction heating cooker of claim 1 , wherein
the first inverter circuit comprises a full-bridge inverter circuit that drives the first coil by a first arm including two first switching elements connected in series with each other, and a second arm including two second switching elements connected in series with each other, and
the third inverter circuit comprises a full-bridge inverter circuit that drives the third coil by the second arm, and a third arm including two third switching elements connected in series with each other.

5. The induction heating cooker of claim 1 , further comprising:
a resonant capacitor that forms a resonant circuit together with the second coil, and
a capacitance switching unit that switches capacitance of the resonant capacitor,
wherein when a material of the heating object placed above the second coil includes a non-magnetic material,
the controller causes the capacitance switching unit to switch to reduce the capacitance of the resonant capacitor.

6. The induction heating cooker of claim 1 , wherein
each of the first coil, the second coil, and the third coil is formed by winding a conductive wire,
a wire diameter of the conductive wire of the second coil is smaller than a wire diameter of the conductive wire of each of the first coil and the third coil, and
the number of turns of the conductive wire of the second coil is larger than the number of turns of the conductive wire of each of the first coil and the third coil.

7. The induction heating cooker of claim 1 , wherein a turn width of the second coil is larger than each of a turn width of the first coil and a turn width of the third coil.

8. The induction heating cooker of claim 1 , further comprising:
a top plate on which heating zones are formed, the heating zones each indicating a placement position on which the heating object is placed,
wherein the first coil is arranged at a center of the heating zone, and
the second coil and the third coil are arranged concentrically with the first coil.

9. The induction heating cooker of claim 1 , further comprising:
a top plate on which heating zones are formed, the heating zones each indicating a placement position on which the heating object is placed; and
a plurality of coils provided for one of the heating zones,
wherein the load determining unit determines a material of the heating object placed above each of the plurality of coils, and
the controller causes, among the plurality of coils, the coil above which the heating object made of a magnetic material is placed, to function as the first coil,
causes, among the plurality of coils, the coil that is arranged adjacent to an outside of the first coil and above which the heating object including a non-magnetic material is placed, to function as the second coil, and
causes, among the plurality of coils, the coil that is arranged outside the second coil, to function as the third coil.

10. The induction heating cooker of claim 1 , wherein
in at least one of the first inverter circuit, the second inverter circuit and the third inverter circuit, switching elements include a wide-bandgap semiconductor material.

11. An induction heating cooker, comprising:
a first coil;
a second coil arranged outside the first coil;
a third coil arranged outside the second coil;
a first inverter circuit configured to supply a first high-frequency current to the first coil;
a second inverter circuit configured to supply a second high-frequency current to the second coil;
a third inverter circuit configured to supply a third high-frequency current to the third coil;
a controller configured to control driving of the first inverter circuit, the second inverter circuit, and the third inverter circuit; and
a load determining unit configured to determine a material of a heating object placed above each of the first coil, the second coil and the third coil,
wherein, when a material of the heating object placed above the first coil is a magnetic material and a material of the heating object placed above the second coil and the third coil includes a non-magnetic material,
the controller operates the first inverter circuit, the second inverter circuit, and the third inverter circuit,
controls such that each of a frequency of the second high-frequency current and a frequency of the third high-frequency current is higher than a frequency of the first high-frequency current, and
controls such that electric power to be supplied to the third coil is smaller than electric power to be supplied to each of the first coil and the second coil.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Suga Ikuro
• Bunya Jun
• Takeshita Miyuki
• Kameoka Kazuhiro

Classifications

• H02M7/4818

  with means for adaptation of resonance frequency, e.g. by modification of capacitance or inductance of resonance circuits · CPC title

• H05B6/062 Primary

  for cooking plates or the like · CPC title

• H02M7/4815

  Resonant converters (H02M7/4811 and H02M7/4826 take precedence) · CPC title

• H05B6/1272

  with more than one coil or coil segment per heating zone · CPC title

• Y02B70/10

  Technologies improving the efficiency by using switched-mode power supplies [SMPS], i.e. efficient power electronics conversion e.g. power factor correction or reduction of losses in power supplies or efficient standby modes · CPC title