IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 48, NO.

4, JULY/AUGUST 2012

1203

Medium-Frequency Induction Melting Furnace

as a Load on the Power System
Ilker Ylmaz, Muammer Ermis, Member, IEEE, and Isk adrc, Member, IEEE

AbstractThe variable-frequency operation of the coreless induction melting furnace (IMF) has been investigated in detail
both theoretically and experimentally. The time variations of the
operational impedance value of the IMF, owing to the time-varying
resonance frequency and crucible conditions, have been derived
for typical melting cycles by using a variable parallel RLC model
derived from extensive field measurements. The work coil and
its crucible are supplied at variable frequency from a multipulse rectifier and a current-fed load-resonant inverter cascade.
Uncharacteristic current harmonics caused by cross-modulation
phenomenon across the alternating current acdcac link have
been derived theoretically and verified by field tests. These theoretical results and extensive field measurements on a sample IMF
installation have shown the following: 1) The major power quality
problem of an IMF as a load on the power system is the injection
of various characteristic and uncharacteristic current harmonics
to the grid; 2) line currents on the supply side are nearly balanced;
3) flicker contribution is below the limits specified in the standards; 4) reactive power demand is relatively low and the variations in the magnitude and rate of change of active power are not
drastic; and 5) no voltage sag and swell phenomena arising from
furnace operation occur.
Index TermsHarmonic analysis, induction melting furnaces,
power conversion harmonics, power quality.

I. I NTRODUCTION

HE induction melting furnace (IMF) offers a clean,

energy-efficient, and easily controllable melting process
for both ferrous and nonferrous materials, as compared to other
means of metal melting [1][4]. It has competitive installation
costs and relatively low running costs for small steel melt shops.

Manuscript received June 29, 2011; revised October 28, 2011; accepted
February 17, 2012. Date of publication May 30, 2012; date of current version July 13, 2012. Paper 2011-METC-283.R1, presented at the 2011 IEEE
Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, October 913,
and approved for publication in the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON I NDUSTRY
A PPLICATIONS by the Metals Industry Committee of the IEEE Industry
Applications Society.
I. Ylmaz is with the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara 06531, Turkey, and
also with the Power Electronics Department, Space Technologies Research
Institute (UZAY), The Scientific and Technological Research Council of
Turkey (TBITAK), Ankara 06531, Turkey (e-mail: ilker.yilmaz@uzay.
tubitak.gov.tr).
M. Ermis is with the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
Middle East Technical University, Ankara 06531, Turkey (e-mail ermis@
metu.edu.tr).
I. adrc was with the Power Electronics Department, Space Technologies
Research Institute (UZAY), The Scientific and Technological Research Council
of Turkey (TBITAK), Ankara 06531, Turkey. She is now with Hacettepe
University, Ankara 06800, Turkey (e-mail: cadirci@ee.hacettepe.edu.tr).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2012.2199457

Among various types of IMFs, the medium-frequency coreless

IMFs have shown a growing interest in small steel melt shops
and alloy steel plants, due to their significantly reduced capital
cost for a given melting rate. This is due to the development
of high-power-density IMF fed from solid-state inverters operating at medium frequency. Also, the inherent surface stirring
action assisting with the dissolution of alloy additions or newly
added charge materials represents an additional benefit of IMF
[1], [2], [4].
Resonant load inverters have been designed to allow the
output power frequency to change during a melting cycle, in
order to maintain tuning to the natural frequency of the work
coil [1], [4], [5]. The power applied to the IMF depends only on
the limits of the inverter voltages and currents; these are chosen
to allow substantially constant power input to be achieved
through the melting of a cold charge, the load conditions of
which change during the total melting cycle [4]. The operating
power and frequency of medium-frequency coreless IMF are in
the ranges of 10 kW15 MW and 150250 Hz, respectively, up
to 40-t capacity.
Although the IMF has several advantages as described previously, it constitutes one of the most problematic loads for the
power system, from the viewpoint of electric power quality. The
changing resonant frequency of the work coil during melting
period accentuates further the problem, due to the time-varying
nature of current harmonic orders and magnitudes injected to
the grid.
The basic characteristics of the IMF have been described,
and the impact of injected interharmonics on the distribution
system has been discussed in [6] and [7]. The utility voltage
waveform distortion arising from currents drawn by modern
induction furnaces has been described in [8]. However, the
time-varying nature of these harmonics and interharmonics in
terms of harmonic orders and magnitudes has not been assessed
in detail in the literature.
In this paper, the variable-frequency operation of the coreless IMF has been represented by a time-varying parallel
RLC circuit model, derived from field measurements taken
for typical melting cycles. The power quality parameters of
the coreless medium-frequency IMF have been investigated in
detail according to International Electrotechnical Commission
(IEC) Standard 61000-4-30 [9], and the adverse effects of the
IMF system on the utility grid have been demonstrated by
actual field tests. In particular, in addition to the characteristic
harmonics, the time-varying uncharacteristic harmonics caused
by cross-modulation phenomenon across the alternating current
(ac)dcac link of the multipulse rectifier and current-fed loadresonant inverter cascade have been derived theoretically and

0093-9994/$31.00 2012 IEEE

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Fig. 1. Simplified power circuit diagram of a typical medium-frequency coreless IMF.

then verified by extensive field tests carried out on an actual

IMF system.
II. S YSTEM D ESCRIPTION
The simplified power circuit diagram of a typical mediumfrequency coreless IMF is as shown in Fig. 1. The IMF is
supplied at variable frequency during the melting period via a
load-resonant single-phase H-bridge inverter circuit, in order to
maximize the power transferred to the work coil. In order to
maintain the resonance condition, a resonant capacitor bank is
connected across the work coil terminals.
In order to approximate the dc-link current to a level current
and, hence, the work coil current to a rectangular current
waveform, a large dc choke is placed in the dc link. The dc
choke also serves as a current-limiting reactor against faults on
the inverter side.
The dc link is usually fed from a 12-pulse controlled rectifier
circuit in order to minimize the following: 1) reactive power
demand of the rectifier; 2) harmonic content of the ac source
currents; and 3) harmonic content of the rectifier output voltage.
The line-commutated 12-pulse rectifier system is formed by
using a three-phase /Y transformer bank and two sixpulse bridge rectifiers connected in series. To improve the
harmonic content of the supply-side current waveforms, two
of such IMF systems are operated in a coordinated manner in
the same melt shop. This will also double the steel production
capacity of the melt shop.
The operation of the IMF system shown in Fig. 1 is described, and its effects on the utility grid are discussed in the
next sections, both theoretically and experimentally. For this
purpose, field data collected from a sample IMF system are
used. The measurement points are marked by gray-colored
symbol MP in Fig. 1.
III. VARIABLE -F REQUENCY O PERATION OF IMF
A. Field Measurements
Field data are collected on a 25-t 12-MVA IMF system for
several melting cycles at measurement points MP1MP4 in
Fig. 1, by using a custom-designed power quality measurement
system which is programmed to collect raw data [10]. Each
voltage and current quantity is sampled at a rate of 12.8 kS/s
with time synchronization. At MP1, voltage and current signals

Fig. 2.

Supply voltage and current waveforms measured at MP1.

Fig. 3. DC-link voltage and ac component of dc-link current waveforms

measured at MP2.

are taken from secondaries of conventional current and voltage transformers. At MP2MP4, voltage signals are taken by
the use of high-voltage active differential probes, and current
signals are taken by the use of Rogowski coils. The mean
value of the dc-link current is calculated from the raw data,
by data processing. All collected data are then postprocessed
using a dedicated power quality software [10], according to IEC
Standard 61000-4-30 [9].
Some sample records of currents and voltages at measurement points MP1MP4 are shown in Figs. 25, respectively.
The active and reactive power variations of IMF at MP1 and
MP4 are also shown for a few typical melting cycles in Fig. 6(a)
and (b), respectively.

YILMAZ et al.: MEDIUM-FREQUENCY INDUCTION MELTING FURNACE AS A LOAD ON THE POWER SYSTEM

Fig. 4.

DC-link voltage waveform measured at MP3.

Fig. 5.

Inverter output voltage and current waveforms measured at MP4.

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Fig. 6. Active and reactive power variations of IMF [(MC) melting cycle; 3-s
averaged data]. (a) Active and reactive power variations measured at MP1.
(b) Inverter output active power variations measured at MP4.

B. IMF Model Based on Field Measurements

The IMF can be represented by the equivalent circuit in
Fig. 7, where Co is the capacitance of the resonant capacitor
bank in Fig. 1 and R and L are the time-varying operating resistance and inductance of the work-coilworkpiece combination
during a melting period, respectively.
The crucible of the IMF is initially filled with scrap metal materials having various metallurgical properties and dimensions.
The skin depth is a function of resonant frequency fo of the
work coil and electrical resistivity and magnetic permeability
of various scrap materials, as given in


(1)
=
fo
where = o r , with r as the relative permeability and o as
the permeability of free space.
During the melting period, frequency fo is varied in order
to maintain maximum power transfer, temperature is changing,
skin depth is varying, and new buckets are charged into the
crucible several times. Since the crucible is partly filled with
molten metal bath and partly with heterogeneous metal scrap
materials, equivalent R and L should be defined for the IMF at
any time instant. Time-varying R and L in Fig. 7 are expected
during the melting process.
Operational inductance L is N 2 Peqv , where N is the number
of series turns of the work coil and Peqv is the equivalent

Fig. 7. IMF representation.

permeance of the overall magnetic circuit. Peqv is directly

proportional to equivalent magnetic permeability eqv of the
magnetic circuit. In the melting period, the magnetic circuit
can be considered as a heterogeneous mixture of magnetic
and nonmagnetic materials. For ferrous metal scraps, r is
varying in a wide range, e.g., from 10 to 5000 for temperatures
below the Curie point (770 C), and can be taken as unity
above the Curie temperature. Therefore, as the scrap material
melts down, considerable reduction in operating inductance L
is expected. Since Co in Fig. 7 is constant, switching frequency
f of the inverter should be increased according to (2) in order
to maintain resonance conditions
f = fo =

.
2 LCo

(2)

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Fig. 8. Active power variations calculated by two different techniques in a

sample melting cycle (1-s averaged data).

However, in practice, for a thyristorized load-commutated inverter, in order to be able to turn off the thyristors successfully,
a negative voltage should appear across the anodecathode
terminals, and hence, the inverter circuit should be switched
at a frequency slightly higher than the resonance frequency.
If device-commutated types of power semiconductors such
as insulated-gate bipolar transistors or integrated gatecommutated thyristors were employed in the inverter circuit,
f would be equal to fo .
On the other hand, the variation in operational resistance R
will not be as marked as that of L, because it is affected mainly
by . The operational impedance values R and L of the IMF are
calculated from field measurements for various melting cycles.
Active power input Pw to IMF at MP4 is calculated from
1
Pw =
T

T
v(t)i(t) dt

(3)

Vn In cos(n ).

(4)

Fig. 9. R and L variations versus time of IMF over three different melting
cycles (1-s averaged data). (a) Resistance variation of IMF over three different
melting cycles. (b) Inductance variation of IMF over three different melting
cycles.

Pw =

N

n=1

Active power variations Pw in (3) are averaged for T = 1-s

periods. RMS values of voltage and current harmonics Vn and
In and their phases n in (4) are obtained from the Fourier
series expansion of the inverter output voltage and current
waveforms over a melting cycle, with 1-s windows. Active
power variations calculated from (3) and (4) are plotted in
Fig. 8, for a typical melting cycle. As can be understood from
Fig. 8, the difference between them is negligibly small.
As shown in the Appendix, R can be calculated from
V2
R= w
Pw

(5)

where Vw is the true rms value of the inverter output voltage.

On the other hand, L can be calculated from (6), as derived
in the Appendix
L=

Vw1
2f IL1

(6)

where Vw1 is the rms value of the fundamental component

(at f ) of the inverter output voltage and IL1 is the rms value

Fig. 10. Variations of calculated resonance frequency f0 and inverter output

frequency f within a sample melting cycle (1-s averaged data).

of the fundamental component of the operational inductance

current.
The variations in R and L are shown in Fig. 9(a) and (b),
respectively, for three different melting cycles. In order to verify
the validity of the L calculation method, resonance frequency
fo of the tank circuit in Fig. 7 is calculated from L variations in
Fig. 9(b), and the constant value of the resonant capacitor bank
Co = 5.1 mF. The time variations in inverter output frequency
f are obtained from the Fourier series expansion of the recorded

YILMAZ et al.: MEDIUM-FREQUENCY INDUCTION MELTING FURNACE AS A LOAD ON THE POWER SYSTEM

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Fig. 11. Ideal coreless medium-frequency IMF system.

TABLE I
C HARACTERISTIC H ARMONICS OF THE I DEAL IMF S YSTEM

output current waveform of the inverter and found to vary

between 160 and 225 Hz. The variations in fo and f against
time are shown in Fig. 10. It is seen from Fig. 10 that there is a
very good correlation between fo and f , and f is slightly higher
than fo , as expected.
IV. E XPRESSING THE H ARMONICS
C AUSED BY THE IMF S YSTEM
A. Ideal IMF System
Fig. 11 shows the block diagram representation of an ideal
IMF installation. An ideal system means as follows: 1) The grid
is an infinite bus; 2) transformer and power semiconductors in
the 12-pulse rectifier and H-bridge inverter are ideal devices;
and 3) Ldc is an infinitely large inductance.
For the ideal system as shown in Fig. 11, the following
statements are true.
1) IMF output voltage vL (t) and iL (t) would be a pure sine
wave and a pure rectangular wave at resonance frequency,
respectively.
2) vdc2 (t) would be the fully rectified form of vL (t).
3) idc (t) would be an ideal level current.
4) vdc1 (t) would be a 12-pulse rectified form of the supply
voltage waveforms.
5) Line current waveforms on the supply side would be a
ten-step ac waveform at supply frequency.
The characteristic harmonics of an ideal IMF system are
given in Table I. The orders of current harmonics in supply
lines are (12n 1) with respect to supply frequency, and their

magnitudes are 1/(12n 1) times the fundamental component,

where n = 1, 2, 3, . . .. These harmonics do not comply with
current distortion limits given in IEEE Standard 519-1992 [11],
for general distribution systems. These could be successfully
filtered out by passive tuned filters if the IMF installation were
an ideal one. However, in practice, the harmonic content of
supply line current waveforms is much richer than that of
the ideal IMF installation owing to the cross-modulation phenomenon across the acdcac link. The orders of current harmonics on the load-resonant inverter output are (2k + 1) with
respect to the resonance frequency fo , and their magnitudes are
1/(2k + 1) times that of the fundamental resonant current,
where k = 1, 2, 3, . . .. These harmonics are then reflected to
the dc link with orders 2kfo , causing a cross modulation in
the supply line current harmonics in practice. The supply line
current harmonics arising from cross-modulation phenomenon
interact with the passive filter characteristics, thus making the
use of passive filtering techniques impracticable [6]. These
issues will be discussed in the next section.
B. Practical IMF System
In the analysis of a practical IMF system, the source
impedance and the leakage impedance of the /Y coupling transformer should be taken into account. More important
than this, the dc-link inductance is not sufficiently large to
prevent the system from cross-modulation phenomenon. Cross
modulation in HVdc and variable-frequency ac motor drives
has been described in [12]. In these applications, both the
supply-side and the load-side converters are multipulse. How-

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TABLE II
I NTERHARMONICS OF A P RACTICAL IMF S YSTEM A RISING F ROM C ROSS M ODULATION

ever, for a practical IMF system, the load-side converter is

a single-phase inverter, resulting in a much higher ac ripple
component on the dc-link voltage, and hence on the dc-link
current, thus making the situation much more drastic than the
aforementioned applications.
The dc-link current idc (t) in Figs. 1 and 11 is composed of
its mean value Idc and its ac component idc (t). That is,
idc (t) = Idc + idc (t).

(7)

Since the dc-link voltage on the rectifier side vdc1 (t) is a

12-pulse rectified voltage waveform and the dc-link voltage
on the inverter side vdc2 (t) is a two-pulse rectified voltage
waveform as shown in Fig. 11, then idc (t) can be expressed
as in (8), by using the superposition principle, as the sum of the
associated ac current components
idc (t) =

N


I12n sin [12n(2fs t) + 12n ]

n=1

K


sin [2k(2f0 t) + 2k ]

Idc causes the flow of the characteristic harmonics given in

Table I on the load side, while idc (t) causes the flow of the
uncharacteristic harmonics given in Table II. This phenomenon
is known as the cross modulation in the literature [12].
In a similar manner, idc (t) is multiplied by the switching
function of the 12-pulse rectifier in (11), to obtain supply-side
harmonics of the IMF system. is (t) is therefore found by using
(7), (8), (11), and (12), as given in (13)

4 3
Fsw(rec) (t) =
sin[2fs t]

4 3
sin [(12n1)(2fs t)]
(12n1)
n=1
N


4 3
sin [(12n+1)(2fs t)]
+
(12n1)
n=1
N


is (t) =Fsw(rec) (t) [Idc +idc (t)]

(8)

(11)
(12)

is (t) =Fsw(rec) (t) Idc

k=1

where I12n is the peak value of the current harmonic driven by

the 12nth voltage harmonic of vdc1 (t), I2k is the peak value
of the current harmonic driven by the 2kth voltage harmonic
of vdc2 (t), 12n and 2k are the phase angles of the associated
harmonic current components with respect to the reference in
the Fourier series expansion, and K and N are the integers
corresponding to half of the sampling frequency.
Harmonic components of idc (t) will be reflected to both
the load side and the supply side according to the switching
functions of single-phase inverter and 12-pulse rectifier topologies. The switching function of the load-resonant single-phase
inverter can be expressed as in
Fsw(inv) (t) =

N


4
sin [(2n 1)(2f0 t)] .
(2n 1)
n=1

(9)

Load current iL (t) is therefore the product of Fsw(inv) and

idc (t), as given in
iL (t) = Fsw(inv) (t) [Idc + idc (t)] .

(10)

N



Fsw(rec) (t)

n=1

I12n sin [12n(2fs t)+12n ]}

+

K



Fsw(rec) (t)

k=1

I2k sin [2k(2fs t)+2k ]} .

(13)

The first term in the right-hand side of (13) includes the

fundamental component and only the characteristic harmonic
components of the 12-pulse rectifier, as expressed in the first
column of Table I. The second term is due to the 12-pulse
voltage ripple in the dc link and contributes to the fundamental component and characteristic current harmonics of is (t),
depending on the value of phase angle 12n . However, for a
practical system, the effects of the 12nth harmonic current
components in the dc link can be neglected. This is because
the relatively small magnitude of the 12nth voltage harmonics
of the rectifier can drive a small current through the relatively

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1209

large dc-link inductor. As a result, the expression given for is (t)

in (13) can be approximated as in
is (t)  Fsw(rec) (t) Idc
+

K


Fsw(rec) (t) I2k sin [2k(2f0 t) + 2k ] .

(14)

k=1

The third component in (13), or the second component in

(14), corresponds to the cross modulation across the acdcac
link and represents the uncharacteristic current harmonics or
interharmonics on the supply side. Harmonic components on
the supply side other than integer multiples of supply frequency
(fs = 50 or 60 Hz) are defined as uncharacteristic harmonics
in [12], while they are defined as interharmonics in other
references [7], [13]. Interharmonics on the supply side of IMF
installations are due to the cross modulation of the supply
frequency and characteristic harmonic terms of Fsw(rec) with
the dc-link current harmonic frequencies at 2kfo (t). As an example, for the fundamental frequency component of Fsw(rec) (t)
and the 2fo (t) component of the dc-link current, the uncharacteristic interharmonic current ifcr (t) can be expressed as
given in

4 3
sin(2fs t)I2 sin [2(2f0 t) + 2 ] .
(15)
ifcr (t) =

ifcr (t) can be decomposed into the sum of ifcr1 (t) and ifcr2 (t)
at frequencies 2f0 fs , as given in
ifcr = ifcr1 (t) + ifcr2 (t)

2 3
I2 cos [2(2f0 fs )t + 2 ]
=

2 3
I2 cos [2(2f0 + fs )t + 2 ] .

Fig. 12. Flicker measurements and the contribution of the IMF to flicker [17].

A. Flicker
The light flicker is measured at 31.5-kV bus to which the IMF
system is connected, by an IEC flickermeter [14], as shown in
Fig. 12. Since the short-term and long-term flicker values (P st
and P lt) frequently do not comply with IEEE Standard 610003-7 [15], the contribution of the IMF installation to the flicker
is measured by using the method described in [16]. The contribution of IMF to the flicker is found to be negligibly small, and
the origin of the flicker is identified as the background flicker
in the power system, as shown in Fig. 12. The origin of the
background flicker is the neighboring large iron and steel plants
employing ac and dc arc furnaces [17].
B. Voltage Sags and Swells

(16)

Similarly, each of the cross-modulation terms, including

fs and f0 , results in two interharmonic frequencies on the
supply side, and due to the time-varying nature of f0 (t), the
frequencies of these interharmonics change with time as f0
varies within a melting cycle. The frequencies of the produced
interharmonics on the supply side due to the cross modulations
are given in Table II.
Uncharacteristic current harmonics on both the supply side
and the load side will cause their own voltage harmonics on the
associated supply-side and load-side impedances at harmonic
frequencies. These harmonic voltages will be reflected to the
dc link, as given in Table II. Although the frequencies of
uncharacteristic voltage harmonics are the same in vdc1 (t)
and vdc2 (t), their magnitudes are different. Characteristic and
uncharacteristic harmonics on all sides of the IMF system are
obtained by extensive field measurements and given in the next
section.
V. P OWER Q UALITY A SPECTS BY F IELD M EASUREMENTS
The power quality of a 25-t 12-MVA medium-frequency
coreless IMF installation has been assessed in view of the
results of extensive field measurements.

Voltage sags and swells are not the characteristics of ironmaking and steelmaking process by medium-frequency coreless IMF installations. The origin of the voltage sags and swells
is mainly the faults in the outside or inside of the small steel
melt shop under investigation.
C. Imbalance
Unbalanced bus voltages and line currents are not the
characteristics of iron-making and steelmaking process by
medium-frequency coreless IMF installations, because the IMF
is supplied from the power system via a 12-pulse controlled rectifier. Nonidealities in the power semiconductor characteristics
and in their firing angles introduce small amount of imbalance
in line currents and, hence, in bus voltages. The recorded
practical values according to [9] have shown that negligible
amount of imbalance exists in the supply line currents.
D. Active and Reactive Power Demands
As can be understood from Fig. 2, reactive power demand
of a medium-frequency coreless IMF installation is relatively
low, and hence, its input power factor is around 0.96 lagging.
These values comply with the penalty limits specified by most
of the distribution or transmission system operators. On the

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Fig. 13. Harmonics of inverter current iL (t).

Fig. 14. Resonance frequency component of iL (t).

other hand, the fluctuations in the active power demand of the

plant are considerable, particularly in the early phases of the
melting cycle. However, their magnitudes and rate of changes
are not as drastic as those of an ac arc furnace.
E. Harmonics
The raw data sampled at a rate of 12.8 kS/s/channel on the
supply side are postprocessed by fast Fourier transform (FFT)
tool of the MATLAB, for ten-cycle-long windows to achieve a
5-Hz frequency resolution, as recommended in IEC 61000-4-7
[13]. Consecutive FFT windows are nonoverlapping windows.
However, on the load side, windows are 1 s long, thus achieving
1-Hz frequency resolution. Time variations in the harmonic
spectrum of the inverter output current waveform are shown
in Fig. 13, for a typical melting cycle. The harmonics which
are apparent in Fig. 13 are the characteristic harmonics of the
load side, as given in Table I. Uncharacteristic harmonics of the
load side given in Table II do not appear in Fig. 13 since their
magnitudes are negligibly small, as expected.
In order to make the variations in inverter switching frequency from 160 to 225 Hz more clear, Fig. 14 is drawn.
Frequency spectra of dc-link voltage vdc1 (t) and current idc (t)
are shown in Fig. 15(a) and (b), respectively, for the same
melting cycle.

Fig. 15. Harmonic spectra of dc-link quantities. (a) DC-link current idc (t).
(b) DC-link voltage vdc1 (t).

Uncharacteristic voltage harmonics in the dc link are very

low, while the corresponding current harmonics are negligibly
small, so that they do not appear in Fig. 15(a).
Time variations of the supply-side current harmonics and
interharmonics are shown by the frequency spectra in Fig. 16(a)
and (b). Fig. 16(a) shows the magnitude variations for all harmonics and interharmonics for a typical melting cycle, whereas
Fig. 16(b) shows the characteristic harmonic currents (I11 , I13 ,
I23 , I25 , etc.) separately from the uncharacteristic ones, due to
the cross-modulation phenomenon. Interharmonics at frequencies of (2fo fs ), due to the cross modulation of the fundamental supply frequency fs and the inverter output fundamental
frequency referred to the dc link at 2fo , are indicated as Type A
in Fig. 16(b). The cross modulation of fs with current harmonic
frequencies at the dc link at 2kfo , with k = 2, 3, . . ., appears as
interharmonic frequencies at (2kfo fs ), as indicated by Type
B in Fig. 16(b). The supply harmonic current frequencies due to
the 12-pulse rectifier operation, at frequencies of (12n 1)fs ,
for n = 1, 2, 3, . . ., and the current harmonic frequency at the
dc link at 2fo cross modulate at frequencies of (12n 1)fs
2fo , as indicated by Type C curves in Fig. 16(b).
The major interharmonic current magnitudes obtained
theoretically in (15) and (16), at the corresponding

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1211

Fig. 16. Variations in the supply-side line current harmonics for a typical melting cycle. (a) Isometric view. (b) Front view. (Type A) Interharmonics due to the
cross modulation of fundamental supply frequency fs and the inverter output fundamental frequency referred to the dc link 2fo , where fcr = 2fo fs . (Type
B) Cross modulation of fs with current harmonic frequencies at the dc link at 2kfo , with k = 2, 3, . . ., where fcr = 2kfo fs . (Type C) Cross modulation of
supply harmonic current frequencies at (12n 1)fs , for n = 1, 2, 3, . . ., and the dc-link current harmonic frequency at 2fo , where fcr = (12n 1)fs 2fo .
TABLE III
C OMPARISON OF T HEORETICAL AND F IELD T EST R ESULTS FOR M AJOR
I NTERHARMONIC C URRENT M AGNITUDES AND F REQUENCIES D URING
A T YPICAL M ELTING C YCLE W ITH 1-Hz R ESOLUTION

time instants, at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the
melting cycle. The comparison results reported in Table III
show a very good correlation between the theoretical and
the experimental results, in terms of both magnitudes and
frequencies of the major interharmonic current components
due the cross modulation in the acdcac link.
F. Evaluation of Supply-Side Harmonic
Current Measurements

cross-modulation frequencies given in Table II, have been

verified by the field test results obtained at three different

The dominant characteristic harmonics are the 11th, 13th,

23th, and 25th components of the supply line currents, while
harmonics at frequencies 2fo fs , where 160 < fo < 225 Hz,
are being the dominant interharmonic components. Their variations against time are shown in Fig. 17 in comparison with the
50-Hz fundamental component, during a typical melting cycle.

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 48, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2012

Fig. 17. Variations of dominant characteristic and uncharacteristic harmonics

during a melting cycle (1-s averaged data).

nected to the same bus is also investigated in this paper. For this
purpose, three different passive shunt harmonic filters (HFs) are
considered as defined in the following:
1) fifth HF only;
2) 11th HF + 13th HF;
3) 5th HF + 7th HF + 11th HF + 13th HF.
Their characteristics are obtained by assuming that the quality factor is 80 and the total installed capacity is 2 Mvar and are
then plotted in Fig. 19.
On the other hand, as can be understood from Fig. 16,
frequency of the interharmonic components migrates on the frequency axis, as resonance frequency is increased during melting
period. As a consequence of this phenomenon, a considerable
portion of the frequency range will be swept, as shown in
Fig. 19, throughout the melting cycle. As can be understood
from Fig. 19, at any time in a typical melting cycle, at least
one of the interharmonics will be amplified particularly by the
filters previously defined as 1) and 3). These HF combinations
do not make any contribution to filtering action to comply with
TDD limits given in IEEE Standard 519-1992 but lead to the
amplification of interharmonics on the supply side. The HF
topology containing only the fifth HF will improve only the
input power factor of the steel melt shop to unity. Therefore, to
mitigate the interharmonic problem, new technologies should
be exercised, such as active power filters and/or pulsewidth
modulation rectifiers.
VI. C ONCLUSION

Fig. 18. TDD of supply line currents versus time over a melting cycle.

Although the penalty limits for individual characteristic current

harmonic components are specified in various standards, no
information has been found in the literature for interharmonic
components. It is seen from Fig. 17 that the individual characteristic harmonics do not comply with the limits specified
in IEEE Standard 519-1992 [11]. The magnitudes of interharmonics at frequencies (2fo 50 Hz) are higher than those of
550- and 650-Hz characteristic harmonic components and
around 10% of the fundamental component. These interharmonic current components give rise to associated interharmonic
voltage components at the supply buses. Interharmonic voltage
distortion has to be restricted at values less than or equal to
0.2% of the fundamental, in the planning phase, as recommended in IEC 1000-3-6 [18].
In this paper, the combined effects of interharmonic current
components and characteristic harmonics will be assessed in
the sense of total demand distortion (TDD) limits specified in
standards. The variations in TDD, including all harmonics, are
as shown in Fig. 18, for a typical melting cycle. TDD limits for
the strongest and the weakest supply buses are also marked in
the same figure. It is seen from Fig. 18 that TDD exceeds the
limit value for most of the time, during a melting cycle, even
for the strongest supply.
Interaction of the characteristic harmonics and interharmonics in the supply line currents, arising from variable-frequency
operation of the IMF, with the shunt passive filter banks con-

The medium-frequency coreless IMF supplied from a multipulse rectifier and a single-phase load-resonant current-fed
inverter cascade has been investigated as a load on the power
system. The variable-frequency operation of the IMF has been
represented by a variable RLC model, derived from extensive
field measurements carried out for typical melting cycles. All
power quality parameters of the IMF system have been investigated according to the related standards, and it has been shown
that the major power quality problem for the utility grid is due
to the injection of time-varying interharmonic currents to the
supply.
The harmonic and interharmonic currents caused by the IMF
system have been investigated in detail for both the ideal and
the practical systems, both theoretically and experimentally via
field tests. The frequencies and magnitudes of the uncharacteristic harmonics and interharmonics caused by the cross modulation across the acdcac link have been derived theoretically
for a practical IMF operation. Different cross-modulation types
have been shown to occur between harmonic frequencies of
the supply current and those of inverter output current referred
to the dc link, in practice. The theoretical findings have then
been verified by field tests, and it has been shown that the timevarying nature of the uncharacteristic harmonics and interharmonics can be estimated quite accurately from the theoretical
derivations. The time-varying nature of the IMF resonance
frequency and, hence, the interharmonic currents caused by
the cross modulations have been illustrated by 3-D frequency
spectra in this paper. It has been shown that magnitudes and
frequencies of the supply current harmonics and interharmonics

YILMAZ et al.: MEDIUM-FREQUENCY INDUCTION MELTING FURNACE AS A LOAD ON THE POWER SYSTEM

1213

Fig. 19. Illustration of the interaction between interharmonic current components of variable-frequency IMF installation and some typical passive shunt filter
combinations.

vary in a relatively wide range within a melting cycle and,

hence, cannot be mitigated by passive filtering solutions.
A PPENDIX
The inverter output power Pw is considered to be equal to the
power dissipated in R, denoted by PR , by assuming lossless L
and Co . The power relation for PR is found (4) and is given in
(17). The rms value of the inverter voltage Vw can be expressed
by its harmonics V1 Vn , as given in (18). The relation between
R and Pw can then be obtained using (17) and (18), as given
in (5)
PR = PR1 + PR2 + + Pn
V2
V2
V12
+ 2 + + n
R
R
R

(17)

Vw2 = V12 + V22 + + Vn2 .

(18)

L can be calculated from KVL equations at the inverter

output considering the fundamental components of the inverter
voltage and current Vw1 and Iw1 , respectively. L is derived
using (19)(21), as given in (6)
IC1 |C =

Vw1
j2f C0

Vw1
R
IL1 |L = Iw1 |w IC1 |C IR1
IR1 =

(19)
(20)
(21)

where Iw1 is the fundamental rms component of the inverter

output current with a phase angle w and IC1 , IL1 , and IR1
are the fundamental currents through C0 , L, and R with phase
angles C , L , and zero, respectively.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Mega Metallurgy Company
for the permission and support given to the field tests.

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[1] E. J. Davies and P. G. Simpson, Induction heating for industry, Electron.
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McGraw-Hill, 1979.
[3] S. Zinn and S. L. Semiatin, Elements of Induction Heating: Design,
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[4] C. J. Edgerley, L. Smith, and C. F. Wilford, Electric metal melting
A review, Power Eng. J., vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 8392, Mar. 1988.
[5] F. P. Dawson and P. Jain, A comparison of load commutated inverter
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[6] R. C. Dugan and L. E. Conrad, Impact of induction furnace interharmonics on distribution systems, in Proc. IEEE Transm. Distrib. Conf.,
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[7] R. C. Dugan, M. F. Granaghan, S. Santoso, and H. W. Beaty, Electrical
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[8] R. A. Jabbar, M. Akmal, M. A. Masood, M. Junaid, and M. F. Akram,
Voltage waveform distortion measurement caused by the current drawn
by modern induction furnaces, in Proc. Harmon. Qual. Power Conf.,
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[9] IEC Electromagnetic Compatibility: Testing and Measurement
Techniques-Power Quality Measurement Methods, 2nd ed., IEC Std.
61000-4-30, 2008.
[10] O. Salor, S. Buhan, O. Unsar, B. Boyrazoglu, E. Altntas, T. Atalk,
B. Haliloglu, T. Inan, A. Kalaycoglu, A. Terciyanl, A. Ak, T. Demirci,
E. zdemirci, I. adrc, and M. Ermis, Mobile monitoring system to
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[11] IEEE Recommended Practices and Requirements for Harmonic Control
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[12] J. Arrilaga and N. R. Watson, Power System Harmonics, 2nd ed.
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2003.
[13] Testing and Measurement Techniques-General Guide on Harmonics and
Interharmonics Measurements and Instrumentation for Power Supply
Systems and Equipment Connected Thereto, IEC Std. 61000-4-7, 2002,
2.0 ed.
[14] FlickermeterFunctional and Design Specifications, IEC Std. 610004-15, 2003.
[15] Assessment of Emission Limits for the Connection of Fluctuating Installations to MV, HV and EHV Power Systems, IEC Std. 61000-3-7, 2008,
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[16] E. Altntas, . Salor, I. adrc, and M. Ermis, A new flicker contribution
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[17] E. Altntas, Flicker source identification at a point of common coupling
of the power system, M.S. thesis, Middle East Tech. Univ., Ankara,
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[18] Assessment of Emission Limits for Distorting Loads in MV and HV Power
Systems, IEC Std. 1000-3-6, 1996.

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Ilker
Ylmaz received the B.Sc. degree in electrical
and electronics engineering from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, in 2008, where he
is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree.
He is working on power quality improvement
of induction melting furnaces. He is also currently
a Senior Researcher with the Power Electronics
Department, Space Technologies Research Institute
(UZAY), The Scientific and Technological Research
Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), Ankara. His areas
of research include active power filters and Voltage
Source Converter-type static synchronous compensators.

Muammer Ermis (M99) received the B.Sc., M.Sc.,

and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from
Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara,
Turkey, in 1972, 1976, and 1982, respectively, and
the M.B.A. degree in production management from
Ankara Academy of Economic and Commercial Sciences, Ankara, in 1974.
He is currently a Professor of electrical engineering in the Department of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering, METU.
Dr. Ermis was a recipient of The Overseas Premium Paper Award from the Institution of Electrical Engineers, U.K., in
1992, and the 2000 Committee Prize Paper Award from the Power Systems
Engineering Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. He was also
a recipient of the 2003 IEEE Power Engineering Society Chapter Outstanding
Engineer Award and the Outstanding Paper Award from the Metals Industry
Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society in 2009.

Isk adrc (M98) received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and

Ph.D. degrees in electrical and electronics engineering from Middle East Technical University, Ankara,
Turkey, in 1987, 1988, and 1994, respectively.
From 2004 to 2011, she was the Head of the
Power Electronics Department, Space Technologies
Research Institute (UZAY), The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TBITAK),
Ankara. She is currently a Professor of electrical
engineering at Hacettepe University, Ankara. Her
areas of interest include power quality, electric motor
drives, and switch-mode power supplies.
Dr. adrc was a recipient of the Committee Prize Paper Award from the
Power Systems Engineering Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications
Society in 2000, the IEEE Industry Applications Magazine Prize Paper Award,
Third Prize, in 2007, and the Outstanding Paper Award from the Metals Industry
Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society in 2009.