Induction heater and method for controlling overheating of induction heater

An induction heater comprising:

• a body;
• a housing coupled to a side surface of the body;
• an upper header and a lower header provided in an internal space formed by coupling between the body and the housing, disposed at upper and lower ends of the internal space, respectively, so as to be spaced apart from each other in a height direction, and coupled to one or more of the body and the housing;
• a bobbin formed in a cylindrical shape and having opened both ends coupled to and supported by the upper header and the lower header, respectively;
• an induction coil wound around the bobbin;
• and
• a heating element formed in a cylindrical shape, having opened both ends coupled to and supported by the upper header and the lower header, respectively, and disposed inside the bobbin so as to be spaced apart from the bobbin,
• wherein a coolant introduced into an inlet pipe formed at a lower side of the housing sequentially passes through a lower side of the lower header, a coolant introduction hole of the lower header, a space between the heating element and the bobbin, a coolant discharge hole of the upper header, and an upper side of the upper header, and is then discharged through an outlet pipe formed at an upper side of the housing.

An induction heater comprising:

• an induction coil;
• a heating element inductively heated by the induction coil;
• and
• an induction heater control means connected to the induction coil and a vehicle power supply to supply power to the induction coil or block power supplied to the induction coil and performing a control so that the heating element is inductively heated,
• wherein the induction heater control means is configured to include one or more of a current sensing means sensing a current flowing in the induction coil and a temperature sensing means sensing temperatures of the switching elements (insulated gate bipolar mode transistor (IGBTs)) controlling a current supplied to the heating element.