FPGA Implementation of a Switching Frequency Modulation Circuit for EMI Reduction in Resonant Inverters for Induction Heating Appliances

TLDR

The study proposes using frequency modulation as a spread‑spectrum method to lower conducted EMI in the 9–150 kHz band from resonant inverters in induction‑heating appliances. A VHDL‑designed FPGA circuit selects the optimal modulation profile, and the complete system—including converter and VHDL‑AMS spectrum analyzer—is mixed‑signal simulated to validate the design. Simulations show that peak‑period deviation in sinusoidal, triangular, and sawtooth modulations reduces EMI while affecting load power, and these results were experimentally confirmed on a 3.5 kW inverter at 35 kHz.

Abstract

This paper presents the use of frequency modulation as a spread spectrum technique to reduce conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI) in the A frequency band (9-150 kHz) caused by resonant inverters used in induction heating home appliances. For sinusoidal, triangular, and sawtooth modulation profiles, the influence of peak period deviation in EMI reduction and in the power delivered to the load is analyzed. A digital circuit that generates the best of the analyzed modulation profiles is implemented in a field programmable gate array. The design is modeled in a very-high-speed integrated circuits hardware description language (VHDL). The digital circuit, the power converter, and the spectrum analyzer are simulated all together using a mixed-signal simulation tool to verify the functionality of the VHDL description. The spectrum analyzer is modeled in VHDL-analog and mixed-signal extension language (VHDL-AMS) and takes into account the resolution bandwidth stipulated by the EMI measurement standard. Finally, the simulations are experimentally verified on a 3.5 kW resonant inverter operating at 35 kHz.