5 Basics of Induction Heating Coil Design
Induction coil design can have a major impact on part quality, process efficiency, and manufacturing costs. How do you know if your coil design is best for your part and process? Here are some induction coil basics and five tips to optimize your design.
How Induction Heating Coils Work
The induction coil determines how effectively and efficiently a workpiece is heated. Induction coils are water-cooled conductors made of copper tubing that is readily formed into the shape of the coil for the induction heating process. Induction heating coils do not themselves get hot as water flows through them.
Work coils range in complexity from a simple helical- or solenoid-wound coil (consisting of a number of turns of copper tube wound around a mandrel) to a coil that is precision machined from solid copper and brazed.
Coils transfer energy from the power supply to the workpiece by generating an alternating electromagnetic field due to the alternating current flowing in them. The coil’s alternating electromagnetic field (EMF) generates an induced current (eddy current) in the workpiece, which generates heat due to I Squared R losses (core losses).
The current in the workpiece is proportional to the coil’s EMF strength. This transfer of energy is known as the transformer effect or eddy current effect.
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Designs & Frequency Selection for Heating Applications
Induction coil design has a major impact on process efficiency and final part quality, and the best coil design for your product largely depends on your application. Certain coil designs tend to work best with specific applications, and a less than optimal coil-application pairing can result in slow or irregular heating, higher defect rates, and lower quality products.
Before designing your induction coil, consider these three factors along with your induction application:
- Part motion relative to coil - Several applications rely on part movement with the help of conveyors, turntables, or robots. A properly designed induction coil incorporates these individual handling requirements without the loss of heating efficiency.
- Frequency - Higher frequencies are used for applications like brazing, soldering, annealing or heat treating, where surface heating is desired. Lower frequencies are preferred for applications requiring through-heating of the parts to the core like forging and die heating.
- Powder-density requirements - Higher power densities are required for short cycle heating applications requiring high temperatures. Higher power densities may also be required to keep the hot zone confined to a small area, reducing the heat affected area.
Which induction coil shapes & frequencies are typically used with different industrial heating applications?
6 Simple Ways to Improve Induction Heating Uniformity via Coil Design
Induction heating uniformity issues can cause a variety of problems with part quality. We often see these issues because of irregular heating patterns due to unusual part shape or nontraditional heating requirements.
Here are six ways you can augment your induction coil design or heating process to address common heating uniformity problems.
6 ways to improve uniformity of heating...
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