COMPLETE EQUIPMENT FOR INDUCTION HEATING
Induction heaters heat the billets to the forging temperature very quickly and efficiently. The heating process can be easily regulated and fully automated. Thanks to these advantages, induction heating in forges has an irreplaceable place. Forging heaters make the main portfolio of our company. Due to many years of operation in this area, we can always offer our customers the best possible solution.
The billets are heated in an inductor, which consists of a copper coil encapsulated in concrete refractory. Heaters usually come with several types of inductors designed for different sizes and cross-sections of billets. This ensures the versatility of the heater. The inductors can be easily replaced due to the pneumatic clamping and quick couplings. In an inductor several billets are usually heated simultaneously. The pushing mechanism (rollers or pusher) push the billets through the inductor. The move can be continuous or sequential with an adjustable cycle. The inductor is powered by a frequency converter, which in compact heaters is built in a cabinet under the inductor or can stand alone. For optimal tuning of the medium frequency circuit, capacitors with manually or automatically switchable capacity are placed in the heater cabinet. Feeding of billets can be manual or automatic using a vibratory bowl feeder, step feeder or robot. The heated billets may fall out of the inductor by gravity or may be pulled out by a roller extractor, clamp manipulator or robot. The heater can be equipped with a sorter, which sorts billets into unheated and overheated according to the measured temperature. The transport of heated billets to the forming machine is ensured by a robot or a chain conveyor.
The entire heating device is controlled by a PLC system, which allows automatic and manual control of the heater. Repeated settings of the heating process can be saved as a recipe. With each heated billet, the operating data for the statistics are saved.
We take into account the following factors in particular when designing each heater:
According to specific needs, our customers can choose from many arrangements:
The compact heaters have a built-in frequency converter located in a cabinet under the inductor, which has the advantage of saving the total built-up area and lower losses in the medium frequency conductors between the converter and the inductor. Only one quickly replaceable inductor is placed on the single-stage heaters. The heater can be supplied with a whole set of inductors for a wide range of billet sizes or the inductors can be ordered later according to current needs. The coil length and diameter of each inductor can be optimized for a particular heating process to achieve the desired temperature uniformity and maximum efficiency.
The version with automatic feeding using a bin tipper and a vibratory bowl feeder is shown. The billets are pushed through the inductor by feed rollers. The heated billets are extracted from the inductor by a chain conveyor, which is equipped with a sorter.
Type series KSO (with thyristor frequency converter):
Type series KSO-T (with transistor frequency converter):
If the converter is located separately, the heater itself may be smaller. This applies in cases where the heater is placed in a production line. A version with an electromechanical pusher is shown. Inserting and removing billets is performed by a robot.
Type series SOP:
Heaters with displaceable inductors excel in their versatility. Several inductors movable in the transverse direction can be placed on the heater cabinet. The inductor can be replaced completely automatically.
The heater shown is adapted for manual loading into a discharge conveyor. The movement of the billets through the inductor is ensured by an electromechanical pusher. Short billets fall out of the inductor by gravity, long ones are pulled out by a roller extractor. The output chute is equipped with a sorter.
Type series KSO (with thyristor frequency converter):
Type series KSO-T (with transistor frequency converter):
Multistage heaters excel in a large power range. They have several inductors in a row, each with its own source. Thanks to this, the power can be freely distributed along the heating line to achieve the desired final core-surface temperature profile at different production cycles and billet lengths.
A two-stage compact heater with automatic loading using a bin tipper and a vibratory bowl feeder is shown. The feed rollers move the billets through the inductor. Gravitational and forced billet extracting is combined at the output of the inductor. The output chain conveyor is equipped with a sorter.
Type series KSO (with thyristor frequency converter):
Type series KSO-T (with transistor frequency converter):
The parallel arrangement of inductors is advantageous when high power rate and minimum heater length need to be achieved.
A double parallel heater with an output of 2.1 MW is shown. The feeding mechanism alternately divides the billets into left and right tracks. The billets are moved by hydraulic pushers.
