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HOW DOES IT WORK……. INDUCTION HOB
By John | January 11, 2008
Efficient, Clean and Super safe the induction hob has revolutionised cooking
But how does it work ?
Induction hobs work by creating ‘eddy currents’ in the base of the pan. The hob creates a fairly powerful and rapidly changing electromagnetic field that extends beyond the surface of the hob and in to the base of the pan.
A changing magnetic field in a conductor causes a current to flow and the resistance within the metal of the pan base causes the pan to heat up. Since air is such a poor conductor, very little energy is lost to the space around the pan (except by the usual mechanisms of conduction, convection and radiation), but the hob won’t consume much power if there’s nothing there to permit a current to flow, hence more efficient. And don’t think you actually need a magnetic saucepan, even a pure aluminium one should work but a ferromagnetic one is better (ie.it’s got some iron in it whether that stainless steel, regular steel etc) will have some free electrons in the iron atoms which helps current to flow.
So now you know…
Topics: Misc | 3 Comments »
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:43 pm
pure aluminium pans will not work, i have one of these hobs and have had to give away all my jamie oliver pans to friends and family,and stainless will not work either unless they have the special base.
November 7th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I have a induction hob, when swiching one of the plates on it banged.I lost the use of one side (two plates} to repair the hob would I have to replace the circuit board on that side plus the elements, as the other side works ?
Derek.
August 10th, 2011 at 9:16 am
Unfortunately, we can’t answer such technical questions! Your best bet, Derek, would be to contact the manufacturer of your induction hob and talk to their customer services team.