Power system component protection system for use with an induction heating system

摘要

When a power system experiences a disruptive event, conditions may exist that threaten the survival of power devices used in the system. Embodiments described herein provide an improved means of protecting these devices under such circumstances.

主权项

1. An RF heating system, comprising:
an radio frequency (RF) field generator; a power system coupled to the RF field generator and configured to provide power to the RF field generator, the power system comprising one or more switching devices; and a protection system coupled to the power system, the protection system being configured to: (a) detect the presence of a threat condition that threatens reliable operation of the power system; and (b) select a protection procedure from a set of at least two protection procedures and perform the selected protection procedure response to detecting the presence of the threat condition that threatens reliable operation of the power system, the set of at least two protection procedures comprising a first protection procedure and a second protection procedure, wherein the first protection procedure comprises: (i) automatically reducing the power delivered to the RF field generator by the power system for a disable interval and then (ii) automatically increasing the power delivered to the RF field generator by the power system in response to the disable interval elapsing, the second safety procedure comprises placing the power system in a non-operating, persistent protection mode, and the protection system is configured such that the disable interval based, at least in part, on one or more of the following: (a) a sensed temperature, (b) a number of threat conditions that have occurred within the last X seconds, wherein X is greater than zero, (c) a number of threat conditions that have occurred since the occurrence of a certain event (d) an operating frequency of the power system, and (e) a magnitude of overload experienced by the switching devices.