...
So, how do we reconcilliate apparently incompatible camps around Mazzilli's legacy??
Well, here's one possibility i think:
It's been a while so that's hardly making sense without also posting about my "U-Core"
Dipoles system:
Actually, in the creative process (...), i didn't immediately notice this is
not a familiar type of winding, not even to myself! Yet if the intuition was right then such magnetic
Flux-Concentration trick might easily solve a few puzzles which remain challenging otherwise. Lets imagine the implementation of a fault-tolerant battery setup where 1 single failing cell won't stop the rest to work collectively, yet electrically isolated from it...
Many years ago i was vaguely thinking of 2 cells after the Loto Labs Evoke/Lux demonstrated that just 1 sufficed for e-Cig missions:
Please admire my recent "revised" version:
Which by the way equally requires an explanation on my "2.5" dimensions thing...
The illustration's purpose is to communicate a concept of magnetic power combination (e.g. possibly providing "galvanic" isolation), in contrast to parallel and/or series connected circuits. These days i much prefer to gamble on 3 cells because if 1 goes down that's only 33 % lost while in a 2 units scenario i'd already loose 50 % with no other margin left. Plus i don't like to waste free PCBoard space when so much more awaits ahead!
While there's an appearance of IH frenzy currently going on, over some "DNA"... Well one could attribute to Steven Ward's "Self-Resonant SSTC" (1983!!) just the same, euh... Allow me to show you what makes me dream instead:
Using magnetic power combining 3 electrically isolated cells can work just the same as before except now
ONLY 2 contacts are involved at a voltage that's a 3rd what it would be in typical series-connected solutions. As a trade-off for such fault-tolerance all 3 drivers must work in synchronism: TOGETHER.
Lucky me i discovered this little gem at some point, during my information quest:
No D.C. paths for a "shot-through" to cause some catastrophic failure event! And another direct consequence of this topology is to rely on much smaller RF Chokes since the junk to filter out gets somehow folded into the upper electro-magnetic band, no to mention it may be of importance to filter in a Class-D Digital (HiFi) Audio application though not necessarily for Induction Heating unless the susceptor is intended to send/receive audible/ultrasonic vibrations too... And that's the part of dream that motivates me most, to imagine a display-less/button-less user-interface offering an extended range of accessibility even for people with disabilities otherwise unable to inhale alone. So i've always been careful NOT to block any evolutive paths toward features as haptic/audio inter-action, including tap-touch command to be exact.
At that point all elements are gathered to reach new hights in portability by offering both 3-cells fault-tolerance AND Flat-Magnetics altogether. Consider a magnetic flux-concentrating core measuring 5 mm (dia.), if we use AWG#16 Litz wire (eq. 100 x AWG#35...) then include thickness for 1 single PCBoard side then it becomes 2 x 1.29 mm (dia.) or 2.58 for 1 "U-Core" dipole element, plus 1 mm of PCBoard + solid casing + clearance margin, hence we get a grand total of about ~11.6 mm thick... Not even the diameter of an "AA" cell actually! So in other words thickness is no longer a problem with circuitry: it's a power-density thing. And soon we may get AA cells just as capable as today's e-Cig monsters i bet.
And unlike e-Cig users there's no way i'll ever want to carry an electrically-stressed power pack near my nose on a chronic basis anyway, the solution being to rely on a lightweight-yet-efficient wireless heat source residing inside a delivery tool with NO other power source inside than what's been temporarily stored in a metal and only by virtue of my "Packetization" approach where the amount must match its workload, so too little residual heat is left to cause unwanted denaturation between cannabic intakes.
...
Instead of the ultimate thickness i prefer to add all the functionality that fits besides a trio of ordinary e-Cig cells. A PCBoard having 2 copper sides it's only inviting yet another evolutionary step above: the addition of a 3rd axis! Almost...
To be honest i wasn't sure it qualified as a full "Z" axis to alternate between the 2 planes of a pair of "U-Core" trios distributed on each side and combined as "Left" + "Right" nearby couples (abstracting the fact they're not on a same plane). Such layout should result in useful properties and i predict some level of 3rd-axis made available from that 2-sides strategy, and i got more ready for desert...
But this is a long text and i ain't explained quite a few details requiring attention, for example the NOT "Fault" signal on Allegro's ACS733 current-sensor chip might serve to control the NOT "MUTE" or NOT "ENABLE" pins of Infineon's MA12070 Class-D Digial Audio driver - while i'd have prefered to simply lower its sound level (via an hypothetical "VOL-" pin...) so a closed-loop item of the analog days is put to good use again: the "AGC" function. Briefly put, "VOC" adjustment ("adj") would set the maximum safe operation limit; events violating this threshold otherwise sending a pulses stream to force the amplification gain down until its resolved, or a watchdog ultimately cancel the show via the NOT "ENABLE" pin, eventually going into High-Z state if i'm not mistaking.
In any case it's supposed to be about RESONATOR circuits where intense currents only need to circulate between the "Tank Capacitor" and associated magnetic inductor, swapping energy which passes from the electrical field to its magnetic alter-ego, respectively. Which brings the crucial point of measurement and that's where this concept might prove successful. Because having access to data reflecting both fields using magneto-resistivity + simple induction (from "secondary" windings) it shall allow a whole range of possibilities just not imaginable with a Mazzilli so-called IH "module". The later still making some sense i suppose if only it came with an ACS733 chip installed, for basic protection (or more, a lot more even!)...
More "classic" Royer alternatives though are directly supported as a short/affordable lengths of copper wire (AWG#26 in my last drawing) will suffice, with a bonus: i figured maybe it can equally operate in "duplex" mode: DC for LEDs and AC for listening to the secondary. Specs for Allegro's ACS733 announce excellent support for the 38 KHz "Flyback" band and i feel optimistic past 100 KHz as well. I wonder about "scanning" susceptors too, quite especially Curie alloys for obvious reasons; thanks to having 2 planes 3rd-axis feedback i go as far as to envision operator-guiding feedback to facilitate ideal magnetic alignement.
Little else is needed for a micro-controller to manage the rest, paving the way to Synthetic Radio technologies as synchronous quadrature demodulation, since we can extract/rejuvenate the fundamental resonator frequency to define a master local clock reference. With pulsed Infra-Red scanning through the glass of a delivery tool it should be convenient enough to measure (and perhaps even hear) cannabic "fumet" opacity, pressure and speed (+turbulence) of flow. Making it all to tempting to envision a device capable of recording "sessions" for later sharing on karaoke-like "social" forums where newbies can obtain quick guidance and acquire operator skills painlessly.
In conclusion if i ever come as far as to experiment it myself then "microphonics" rank as a top priority, because nothing can be safer in absence of electricity than to only listen at a dynamic earphone in hope permanent magnets and coils are sufficient to excite it... If negative then i'll know that was a mirage, but i really doubt so.
Make your bets! It's already been done before, just not yet...
Good day, have fun!! ☮