Method and system for providing variable ramp-up control for an electric heater

A control system for controlling power to a heater including a resistive heating element, the control system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a nontransitory computer-readable medium including instructions that are executable by the processor, wherein the instructions include:
• determining amount of power to be provided to the resistive heating element of the heater based on a variable ramp rate to increase a temperature of the heater to a desired temperature setpoint, wherein the variable ramp rate is set to a desired ramp rate;
• monitoring an electric current flowing through the resistive heating element of the heater;
• and
• reducing the variable ramp rate from the desired ramp rate to a permitted ramp rate in response to the electric current being greater than a lower limit of an electric current limit band based on a variable reduction factor, wherein an upper limit of the electric current limit band is provided as a system current limit.