Application of the Firefly Algorithm for Optimizing a Single-switch Class E ZVS Voltage-Source Inverter’s Operating Point

Abstract

A continuous development of technology involves a permanent improvement of appliances towards the increase in energy effectiveness, efficiency and precision of operation. This applies also to induction heating equipment. In order to increase the energy effectiveness of the inverter presented in this paper and limit its switching losses, its operating point has been optimized, which required solving a system of two non-linear equations. Due to the complex surface optimization to determine the optimal operating point, a modified firefly algorithm was used, which belongs to the family of intelligent optimization methods. An analysis of the effectiveness of optimization process was carried out, due to the firefly algorithm parameters. A modification of the firefly algorithm was proposed to speed up the optimization and get certainty of finding the global optimum. Theoretical outcomes were compared with the measured experimental results obtained in a real inverter system.

Keywords

• artificial intelligence
• inverters
• melt processing
• optimization
• power quality