The Great PLL Induction Heater Driver
Have you ever played with a manually tuned induction heater before? If you did, then you must know that how dull it could be… Oh, for those that didn’t know what the induction heater is, that is a key piece of equipment used in all forms of induction heating. An induction heater will technically operate at either medium frequency (MF) or radiofrequency (RF) ranges. Three main components form the basis of a modern induction heater, such as the power unit (power inverter), the word head (transformer), and the coil (inductor). This project is slightly different from the regular induction heater driver, as it will include the Phase Lock Loop (PLL) into it. A phase lock loop is a control system that can generate a signal, and it has a fixed relation to the phase of a “reference” signal itself. Since the phase lock loop circuit responds to both the frequency and the input signals phase, it raises or lowers the frequency of a controlled oscillator automatically until it’s matched to the reference in both frequency and phase. Overall, this PLL induction heater driver will be one of the magnificent projects that you’ve ever built!