Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ON
INDUCTION FURNACE
BY
Akash Khaitan 08DDCS547
AT
ON
INDUCTION FURNACE
BY
AT
I also thank Mr. Brahmanand Agrawal (Director), Mr. Arman Ali, M.r Sumant
Chaudhary and Mr. S.R Mishra of Nikita Metals who tried their best to provide us all the
facilities needed by my team and cooperated in all possible.
Special thanks to Mr. Ajay Kumar Khaitan (A Scientist and a world record holder) who
gave us his precious time and helped us in understanding the technical details about the
each and every component of the industry.
I thank our faculty in charge Prof. Ranjan Mishra who has helped us all throughout with
his guidance and also helped us in the completion of this report.
iii
Faculty of science & Technology, ICFAI University
Name of the
Abstract: This project deals with Induction Furnace Technology employing high
frequency magnetic heating.
Date Date
Table of Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Induction Furnace 2
3 Furnace Making 5
4 Hydraulic System 6
6 Final Product 8
7 Induction Heating 9
12 Chemical Lab 19
14 Recommendations xxiv
15 References xxv
16 Glossary xxvi
1. Introduction
Induction Furnace
Power Control System
Water Treatment Unit
Air Pollution Control Unit
Chemical Lab Test Unit
Raw Material Control Unit
Transportation Unit Fig 1.1Complete Plant Overview
Induction Furnace: It is the most important Unit that helps in melting the iron.
Power Control System: It consists of the sets of practical circuits that is responsible for
the effective power control in order to melt the metal
Water Treatment Unit: Water is an important component in the induction furnace plant.
The main purpose of water is in the regulation of a particular temperature that is it works
as a coolant in the induction furnace plant.
Air Pollution Control Unit: As the name suggest it is required in order to keep the plant
pollution free and thus better efficiency.
Chemical Lab Test: It is done in the chemical lab to test the % of each component present
in the raw material and to decide whether the raw material is applicable for the plant or
not.
Raw Material Control Unit: Consists of experienced labors who purchase raw material
required for the plant
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2. Induction Furnace
.
Features of induction furnace:
2
2.1 Induction Furnace Diagram
The passive induction coil is connected in parallel with a capacitor to form an L-C tank
circuit. A source of ac current is provided to the active induction coil to produce a
magnetic field that inductively heats and melts an electrically conductive material in the
crucible.
The magnetic field also magnetically couples with the passive induction coil to induce a
current in the passive induction coil. This induced current generates a magnetic field that
inductively heats and melts the material.
The resistance of the L-C tank circuit is reflected back into the circuit of the active
induction coil to improve the overall efficiency of the induction furnace system. The
crucible may be open-ended to allow the passage of the electrically conductive material
through the crucible during the heating process.
The three phase A.C. electric power is converted into D.C. power with the help of high
voltage/high current rectifiers and the A.C. ripple components are removed with the help
of large size inductors and capacitors. Now these rectified D.C. power is applied to the
3
high power thyristors/IGBT. Now high frequency switching signal is applied to the
controlling gates to obtain very frequency current which passes through the coil
surrounding the induction furnace crucible. Because of the high frequency oscillations
around the crucible magnetic fields are generated. Hence the ferrous materials inside the
crucible start melting
The crucible contains about 7-9 tons of scrap iron which melts within 30 minutes. The
temperature rises about 1400-1600 degree centigrade
A huge amount of smoke and gases comes out which is collected and sent to the ESP
(Electro Static Precipitator) for purification.
Fig 2.1.3 Large Set of Capacitors Fig 2.1.4 Control Panel with Inductor
at Nikita Metals Capacitor (LC) Set up at Nikita Metals
4
3. Furnace Making
It is done with the help of ramming mass which is a refractory that can withstand high
temperatures. The furnace outer wall is already present and the inner wall of the furnace
is to be constructed.
The gap in between the iron flask and the container is filled with the ramming
mass
The raw material to be melted is put inside it and the induction process is started.
As the induction continues the iron flask, the raw materials gets melted and only
the ramming mass is left with a hole of the flask shape
This furnace obtained is used 10-15 times and after that the refractory material is
broken and the whole steps is repeated again
5
4. Hydraulic System
6
5. Magnetic Shielding & Analysis of an Induction Furnace
The Joule loss of the molten metal with and without iron
core. The Joule loss of the furnace with iron core is about
5% more than that of the furnace without iron core. The
molten metal is heated efficiently with iron core.
7
6. Final Product
Fig 6.5 Final Product(Ingot) Fig 6.3 Molten Metal being poured to Refractory
8
7. Induction Heating
Induction heating has the important characteristic that the heat is generated in the
material to be heated itself. Because of this, induction has a number of intrinsic trumps,
such as a very quick response and a good efficiency. Induction heating also allows
heating very locally. The heating speeds are extremely high because of the high power
density.
Electromagnetic induction
The energy transfer to the object to be heated occurs by means of electromagnetic
induction. It is known that in a loop of conductive material an alternating current is
induced, when this loop is placed in an alternating magnetic field
When the loop is short-circuited, the induced voltage E will cause a current to flow that
opposes its cause – the alternating magnetic field. This is Faraday - Lenz’s law
Joule Effect
If a ‘massive’ conductor (e.g. a cylinder) is placed in the alternating magnetic field
instead of the sort circuited loop, than eddy currents (Foucault currents) will be induced
in here (see Figure 7.2). The eddy currents heat up the conductor according to the Joule
effect.
9
8. Induction Heating Requirements
Practical induction heating systems are usually a little more complex. For example, an
impedance matching network is often required between the High Frequency source and
the work coil in order to ensure good power transfer. Water cooling systems are also
common in high power induction heaters to remove waste heat from the work coil, its
matching network and the power electronics. The control electronics also protects the
system from being damaged by a number of adverse operating conditions.
In practice the work coil is usually incorporated into a resonant tank circuit. This has a
number of advantages. Firstly, it makes either the current or the voltage waveform
become sinusoidal. This minimizes losses in the inverter by allowing it to benefit from
either zero-voltage-switching or zero-current-switching depending on the exact
arrangement chosen. The sinusoidal waveform at the work coil also represents a more
pure signal and causes less Radio Frequency Interference to nearby equipment.
We will see that there are a number of resonant schemes that the designer of an induction
heater can choose for the work coil:
The work coil is made to resonate at the intended operating frequency by means of a
capacitor placed in series with it. This causes the current through the work coil to be
sinusoidal. The series resonance also magnifies the voltage across the work coil, far
higher than the output voltage of the inverter alone.
The inverter sees a sinusoidal load current but it must carry the full current that flows in
the work coil. For this reason the work coil often consists of many turns of wire with only
a few amps or tens of amps flowing. Significant heating power is achieved by allowing
resonant voltage rise across the work coil in the series-resonant arrangement whilst
keeping the current through the coil (and the inverter) to a sensible level. The main
drawbacks of the series resonant arrangement are that the inverter must carry the same
current that flows in the work coil. In addition to this the voltage rise due to series
10
resonance can become very pronounced if there is not a significantly sized work piece
present in the work coil to damp the circuit.
The tank capacitor is typically rated for a high voltage because of the resonant voltage
rise experienced in the series tuned resonant circuit. It must also carry the full current
carried by the work coil, although this is typically not a problem in low power
applications.
The work coil is made to resonate at the intended operating frequency by means of a
capacitor placed in parallel with it. This causes the current through the work coil to be
sinusoidal. The parallel resonance also magnifies the current through the work coil, far
higher than the output current capability of the inverter alone. However, in this case it
only has to carry the part of the load current that actually does real work. The inverter
does not have to carry the full circulating current in the work coil. This property of the
parallel resonant circuit can make a tenfold reduction in the current that must be
supported by the inverter and the wires connecting it to the work coil. Conduction losses
are typically proportional to current squared, so a tenfold reduction in load current
represents a significant saving in conduction losses in the inverter and associated wiring.
This means that the work coil can be placed at a location remote from the inverter
without incurring massive losses in the feed wires.
Work coils using this technique often consist of only a few turns of a thick copper
conductor but with large currents of many hundreds or thousands of amps flowing. (This
is necessary to get the required Ampere turns to do the induction heating.) Water cooling
is common for all but the smallest of systems. This is needed to remove excess heat
generated by the passage of the large high frequency current through the work coil and its
associated tank capacitor.
This refers to the electronics that sits between the source of high frequency power and the
work coil we are using for heating. Impedance matching is the practice of designing the
input impedance of an electrical load or the output impedance of its corresponding signal
source in order to maximize the power transfer and minimize reflections from the load.
11
9. The LCLR work coil
This arrangement incorporates the work coil into a parallel resonant circuit and uses the
L-match network between the tank circuit and the inverter. The matching network is used
to make the tank circuit appear as a more suitable load to the inverter.
1. A huge current flows in the work coil, but the inverter only has to supply a low
current. The large circulating current is confined to the work coil and its parallel
capacitor, which are usually located very close to each other.
2. Only comparatively low current flows along the transmission line from the
inverter to the tank circuit, so this can use lighter duty cable.
3. Any stray inductance of the transmission line simply becomes part of the
matching network inductance (Lm.) Therefore the heat station can be located
away from the inverter.
4. The inverter sees a sinusoidal load current so it can benefit from ZCS or ZVS to
reduce its switching losses and therefore run cooler.
5. The series matching inductor can be altered to cater for different loads placed
inside the work coil.
6. The tank circuit can be fed via several matching inductors from many inverters to
reach power levels above those achievable with a single inverter. The matching
inductors provide inherent sharing of the load current between the inverters and
also make the system tolerant to some mismatching in the switching instants of
the paralleled inverters.
Another advantage of the LCLR work coil arrangement is that it does not require a high-
frequency transformer to provide the impedance matching function.
12
10. Water Treatment Unit
Water Cooling
Water Purification
13
10.1 Water Purification
H+ (proton) and OH− (hydroxide) Fig 10.1.2 Ion exchange resin beads
Single charged monoatomic ions like Na+, K+,
or Cl−
Double charged monoatomic ions like Ca2+ or
Mg2+
Polyatomic inorganic ions like SO42− or PO43−
Organic bases, usually molecules containing
the amino functional group -NR2H+
Organic acids, often molecules containing -
COO− (carboxylic acid) functional groups
Biomolecules which can be ionized: amino
acids, peptides, proteins, etc.
Water
Ion exchange is a reversible process andCooling
the ion
exchanger can be regenerated or loaded with desirable Fig 10.1.3 Water Purification Unit at
ions by washing with an excess of these ions. Nikita Metals (Ion Exchanger)
14
10.2 Water Cooling Tower
15
11. Power control methods
It is often desirable to control the amount of power processed by an induction heater. This
determines the rate at which heat energy is transferred to the work piece.
The power setting of this type of induction heater can be controlled in a number of
different ways:
The power processed by the inverter can be decreased by reducing the supply voltage to
the inverter. This can be done by running the inverter from a variable voltage DC supply
such as a controlled rectifier using thyristors to vary the DC supply voltage derived from
the mains supply. The impedance presented to the inverter is largely constant with
varying power level, so the power throughput of the inverter is roughly proportional to
the square of the supply voltage. Varying the DC link voltage allows full control of the
power from 0% to 100%.
However, that the exact power throughput in kilowatts depends not only on the DC
supply voltage to the inverter, but also on the load impedance that the work coils presents
to the inverter through the matching network. Therefore if precise power control is
required the actual induction heating power must be measured, compared to the requested
"power setting" from the operator and an error signal fed back to continually adjust the
DC link voltage in a closed-loop fashion to minimize the error. This is necessary to
maintain constant power because the resistance of the work piece changes considerably
as it heats up.
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11.3 Varying the operating frequency of the inverter
The power supplied by the inverter to the work coil can be reduced by detuning the
inverter from the natural resonant frequency of the tank circuit incorporating the work
coil. As the operating frequency of the inverter is moved away from the resonant
frequency of the tank circuit, there is less resonant rise in the tank circuit, and the current
in the work coil diminishes. Therefore less circulating current is induced into the work
piece and the heating effect is reduced.
In order to reduce the power throughput the inverter is normally detuned on the high side
of the tank circuit’s natural resonant frequency. This causes the inductive reactance at the
input of the matching circuit to become increasingly dominant as the frequency increases.
Therefore the current drawn from the inverter by the matching network starts to lag in
phase and diminish in amplitude. Both of these factors contribute to a reduction in the
real power throughput. In addition to this the lagging power factor ensures that the
devices in the inverter still turn on with zero voltage across them, and there are no free-
wheel diode recovery problems.
The power supplied by the inverter to the work coil can be varied by altering the value of
the matching network components. The L-match network between the inverter and the
tank circuit technically consists of an inductive and a capacitive part. But the capacitive
part is in parallel with the work coil's own tank capacitor, and in practice these are
usually one and the same part. Therefore the only part of the matching network that is
available to adjust is the inductor.
The matching network is responsible for transforming the load impedance of the work
coil to a suitable load impedance to be driven by the inverter. Altering the inductance of
the matching inductor adjusts the value to which the load impedance is translated. In
general, decreasing the inductance of the matching inductor causes the work coil
impedance to be transformed down to a lower impedance. This lower load impedance
being presented to the inverter causes more power to be sourced from the inverter.
Conversely, increasing the inductance of the matching inductor causes a higher load
impedance to be presented to the inverter. This lighter load results in a lower power flow
from the inverter to the work coil.
The degree of power control achievable by altering the matching inductor is moderate.
There is a also a shift in the resonant frequency of the overall system. The L-match
network essentially borrows some of the capacitance from the tank capacitor to perform
the matching operation, thus leaving the tank circuit to resonate at a higher frequency.
For this reason the matching inductor is usually fixed or adjusted in coarse steps to suit
the intended work piece to be heated, rather than provide the user with a fully adjustable
power setting.
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11.5 Impedance matching transformer
The power supplied by the inverter to the work coil can be varied in coarse steps by using
a tapped RF power transformer to perform impedance conversion. Although most of the
benefit of the LCLR arrangement is in the elimination of a bulky and expensive ferrite
power transformer, it can cater for large changes in system parameters in a way that is not
frequency dependent. The ferrite power transformer can also provide electrical isolation
as well as performing impedance transformation duty to set the power throughout.
Additionally if the ferrite power transformer is placed between the inverter's output and
the input to the L-match circuit its design constraints are relaxed in many ways. Firstly,
locating the transformer in this position means that the impedances at both windings are
relatively high. i.e. voltages are high and currents are comparatively small. It is easier to
design a conventional ferrite power transformer for these conditions. The massive
circulating current in the work coil is kept out of the ferrite transformer greatly reducing
cooling problems. Secondly, although the transformer sees the square-wave output
voltage from the inverter, it's windings carry currents that are sinusoidal. The lack of high
frequency harmonics reduces heating in the transformer due to skin effect and proximity
effect within the conductors.
When the work coil is driven by a voltage-fed full-bridge (H-bridge) inverter there is yet
another method of achieving power control. If the switching instants of both bridge legs
can be controlled independently then it opens up the possibility of controlling power
throughput by adjusting the phase shift between the two bridge legs.
When both bridge legs switch exactly in phase, they both output the same voltage. This
means there is no voltage across the work coil arrangement and no current flows through
the work coil. Conversely, when both bridge legs switch in anti-phase maximum current
flows through the work coil and maximum heating is achieved. Power levels between 0%
and 100% can be achieved by varying the phase shift of the drive to one half of the bridge
between 0 degrees and 180 degrees when compared to the drive of the other bridge leg.
The power factor seen by the inverter always remains good because the inverter is not
detuned from the resonant frequency of the work coil, therefore reactive current flow
through free-wheeling diodes is minimized.
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12. Chemical Lab
Nikita metal consists of a big chemical lab with a number of chemical and testing tools in
order to perform all the required chemical tests.
Chemical tests are done at Nikita metals to maintain a particular composition of metals in
the final product (ingot).
A sample is tested and all the percentage composition of all the constituents are found in
the sample and accordingly the sample is mixed with other samples to maintain a
particular ratio of each constituents.
The chemical test ensures a better quality product and is an essential component of metal
based industry.
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12.1 Sample Carbon Test
At Nikita metals we were illustrated with a sample carbon test that is the aim was to find
the carbon content in the given sample
The apparatus used at Nikita Metals during the test are shown below
Fig 12.1.3 Beam Balance & Digital Beam Balance Fig 12.1.2 Reading Taker
Following are steps performed for the chemical test for carbon:
The product was kept in the heating furnace in order to melt the sample
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13. Air Pollution Control Unit
Air pollution can be defined as the harmful particles present in the air which can have
dangerous impact on the surroundings. Air pollution control unit is an important unit as it
is directly related to health of the labors and the environment.
Air pollution control in the induction furnace plant is done using Electrostatic precipitator
popularly known as ESP technology.
Steam Generator:
The dust particle that comes out as a result of combustion of metals, get mixed with
steam and passes on to the Electronic precipitator
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13.1 Electro Static Precipitator
Discharge Electrodes
Power Components
Precipitator Controls
Rapping Systems
Purge Air Systems
Flue Gas Conditioning
Fig 13.1.2 Electronic Precipitator at Nikita Metals
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13.2 The Plate Precipitator
Particles suspended in a gas enter the precipitator and pass through ionized zones
around the high voltage discharge electrodes.
The electrodes, through a corona effect emit negatively charged ions into the gas.
The negatively charged gas field around each electrode charges the particles
causing them to migrate to the electrodes of opposite polarity, i.e. the collecting
electrodes.
The charged particles gather on the grounded collecting plates. Rappers dislodge
the agglomerated particulate, which falls into the collection hoppers for removal.
23
Recommendations
Some of the suggestion we would like add for the betterment of the industry are as
follows:
Steel sheets covering the industry should be replaced by transparent sheet in order
to insure better light in the industry
The furnace should have an opening at the top so that the slag can come out
automatically and no worker is required for the same purpose.
xxiv
References
http://www.google.com
http://www.wikipedia.org
http://www.richieburnett.co.uk/indheat.html
http://www.furnace-design.com/Induction-Furnace.html
http://www.neundorfer.com/knowledge_base/electrostatic_precipitators.aspx
xxv
Glossary
Hydraulic Jack: The jack to tilt the crucible to pour the melted metals
Ion Exchange: Based on Anion & Cation Resins to remove water harness
Moulds: The dies in which molten metals are casted & shaped
Ramming Mass: The refractory material, which can withstand high temperatures
xxvi