A frequency tuner for resonant inverters suitable for magnetic hyperthermia applications

In this study, a frequency tuner system is developed for generating variable frequency magnetic fields for magnetic hyperthermia applications. The tuning device contains three specially designed phase lock loop devices that drive a resonant inverter working in the frequency band of 180–525 kHz. This tuner system can be adapted for other resonant inverters employed in the studies of ferrofluids with superparamagnetic nanoparticles. The performance of the whole system is also examined. Our findings were in agreement with the theoretical expectations of phase locking and frequency tuning. The system is tested for samples of a solid magnetic material of cylindrical shape and ferrofluids with differing concentrations of powdered magnetite. The observations indicate significant frequency changes of the magnetic field due to heating of the samples. These frequency variations can be a source of errors, which should not be neglected in experiments determining the specific absorption rate or power dissipated density.