Electrical cooking equipment

Solid state relays (SSRs) are very popular in commercial cooking equipment since they provide a long lifetime but can also respond to the control signals to switch the heaters on and off much faster than electromechanical devices.
The RM1A series. of SSRs is one of the products of choice for leading OEMs. Its hockey puck style design makes it ideal for fitting into compact panel spaces.
The RM1A series comes with IP20 cover for finger-safe protection and built-in overvoltage protection with MOVs (varistors).

Inside electrical cooking equipment panels, the operating temperature can be quite high. Specific standards such as the IEC/EN 60335-1 which covers the safety of household and similar electrical appliances require plastics used in electrical devices to comply with the glow-wire requirements. The housing materials of RAM1A..G series comply with the glow-wire requirements at 750ºC and 850ºC making them an ideal choice for commercial cooking equipment.
The RAM1A series is also a more competitive SSR as customers can add different features within the product depending on their needs. Options such as overvoltage protection may be added as and if needed.

When space in the electrical panel is at a premium, the RF1A mini-puck series can be the solution. With its extremely compact footprint and quick-connect, faston terminals, the RF1A is becoming the preferred choice for single phase heater loads that can be controlled via a DC control voltage. Another nice feature that results in considerable time savings during installation, is the pre-attached thermal pad.
As with the RAM1A...G series, the plastic housing used in the RF1A is also certified according to IEC/EN 60335-1 for glow-wire.

The RK series houses two SSRs in a single housing taking up to 50% less space in the electrical panel compared to a standard puck relay. RK comes into two main models:
The RK2A switches both SSRs with a single control voltage. This solution is quite common when both heater legs need to be switched or, when two heaters can be turned on and off simultaneously.
The RKD2A enables independent switching of the two SSRs – similar to having two SSRs within one housing that can be switched on and off at different times. Such a solution cuts installation time by 50%. Additionally, just like RF1A, the RK series comes with a pre-attached thermal pad for additional installation time savings.

The RG series offers a slim-line design with just 17.5 mm (0.7in.) wide housing and different options when it comes to terminal configuration. The RG..E versions have a contactor style termination configuration to minimize design changes when replacing mechanical contactors. The RG..U versions mimic the wiring of the hockey-puck relays but with a slimmer housing. The RGS series has a panel mount design and customers can mount it directly to the oven's metal chassis or onto a dedicated heatsink.
The RGC series is a plug and play design with an integrated heatsink thereby facilitating installation and, for the North American market, the RGC is also a UL listed product. The RG family of SSRs includes single-pole, two-pole and 3-pole switching variants.

There are different methods for modulating the power applied to the heating elements. In many cases, the analog input from the temperature sensors, is fed to an analog to digital converter or even a PID controller which then pulsates a control signal (PWM) to the SSR to switch the heater on and off with different duty cycles.
An alternative method is to use proportional controllers such as the RGC1P, RGC2P and RGC3P series. The RGC.P series allows analog inputs (0-10 VDC, 4 - 20 mA) to be connected directly to the SSR. The output of the SSR will vary proportionally to the level of the control input thereby modulating the power applied to the heater.

Apart from supplying solid state relays, we have a wide range of heatsinks to provide turnkey solutions to our customers. Solid state relays dissipate heat and a proper thermal interface is required to extend the lifetime of the SSR. Calculating the proper size of the heatsink can be tedious especially when more than one SSR needs to be fitted.

Our online heatsink selector tool solves the problem. With a limited set of user parameters you can get the heatsink model and/or the required thermal resistance, in case we do not offer the heatsink size you need.