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HISTORY
 Induction furnace works on the principle of
induction heating.
 The roots of induction heating go back to
the very beginning of electromagnetism.
 Heating by EDDY CURRENTS or
“FOUCAULT CURRENTS” was discovered
in 1855 when LEON FOUCAULT found
that a significant additional torque was
necessary to keep the copper disc rotating
when it was placed into the permanent
magnetic field and that the disc was heated
by the induced currents.
 At the time there was no mathematical basis
for the theoretical description of this effect and
it was studied experimentally, mainly in the
application to magnetic brakes.
 This kind of induction was used and continues
to be used occasionally for heating of the fast
moving strips and rotating cylinders.
 Recently, this very old phenomenon became
the subject of an intensive study for heating of
the aIuminium cylinders rotating in the very
strong field of a superconductive magnet.
 The first practical attempts to use induction
currents generated by the alternating field for
the heating purposes were made in 1891-92.
 Theoretical and experimental studies of eddy
current generation started even earlier with
main reference to magnetic cores.
 A big contribution was made by H.HERTZ,
O.HEAVISIDE,J.J THOMSON,J.A. EWING
and others.
 Studying EM processes in the magnetic
cores, sir J. EWING described a coined the
word HYSTERESIS.
 It is well known that magnetic field in
induction systems may be accurately
described by MAXWELL equation.
 It is worth to remember that they were not
created by Maxwell in the present elegant
form.
 Modification of these equations must be
credited to OLIVER HEAVISIDE, a brilliant
scientist.
 After several attempts of scientists, the
Induction furnace was designed by professor
E. NORTHRUP .
 He not only built famous channel Induction
furnace but also high frequency furnace with
mercury arc power supply.
Definition:
 An induction furnace is an electric
furnace in which the heat is applied by
induction heating of metal that uses
electric current to melt a metal.
 Once molten ,the high frequency
magnetic field can also be used to stir
the hot metal , which is useful in
ensuring that alloying conditions are fully
mixed into melt
 Metals which are melted in an Induction
furnace include iron and steel, copper,
aluminum and precious metals because it is
a clean and noncontact process .
 It can be used in vacuum or inert
atmosphere.
 Vacuum furnaces make use of induction
heating for production of special steels and
other alloys that would oxidize if heated in
the presence of air.
INDUCTION HEATING
 Induction heating makes use of a
transformer effect
 Induction heating is a non-contact form of
heating
 Induction heating is the process of heating
an electrically conducting object(usually
metals) by electromagnetic induction ,
through heat generated in the object using
eddy currents.
 Non-magnetic materials make use of only
eddy currents while in magnetic materials,
hysteresis losses are in additional.
 Induction heating relies on
the unique characteristics
of radio frequency (RF)
energy - that portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum
below infrared and
microwave energy. Since
heat is transferred to the
product via electromagnetic
waves, the part never
comes into direct contact
with any flame, the inductor
itself does not get hot (see
Figure ), and there is no
product contamination.
When properly set up, the
process becomes very
repeatable and
controllable. Thus it
becomes a noncontact
process.
 Principle of induction heating is mainly based
on two important well known phenomenon:
1. electromagnetic induction
2. joule heating effect
Electro-Magnetic induction

 The energy transfer to the object to be

heated occurs by means of electro-
magnetic induction.
 Any electrically conductive material
placed in a variable magnetic field is the
site of induced electric currents , called
eddy currents which will eventually lead
to joule heating.
JOULE HEATING
 Joule heating also known as OHMIC
HEATING and RESISTIVE HEATING, is
the process by which the passage of an
electric current through a conductor
releases heat.
 The amount of heat produced is
proportional to the square of the current
multiplied by electrical resistance of the
wire.
Q ∝ i²R
FACTORS CONTROLLING
INDUCED HEAT IN THE DISC:
 1. High coil current(I).
 2. Larger no. of coil turns(N).
 3. High frequency supply(f).
 4. Close spacing between coil and
charge(d).
 5. The disc may be of magnetic material(μ).
 6. Higher electrical resistivity of the disc(ρ).
Heat induced ∝ all the above factors.
 INDUCTIONHEATING
 Hysteresis loss ∝ f
 Eddy current losses ∝ f²
 The frequency of AC depends on the
object size, material type , coupling and
penetration depth.
 Depth of penetration of induced current
into the disc
 d≈½Π√(ρ×10^9/fμ)
 Operating frequencies range from utility
frequency (50 or 60 Hz) to 400 kHz or higher,
usually depending on the material being melted, the
capacity (volume) of the furnace and the melting
speed required.
 Generally, the smaller the volume of the metal, the
higher the frequency of the furnace used; this is due
to the skin depth
 which is a measure of the distance an alternating
current can penetrate beneath the surface of
a conductor.
 For the same conductivity, the higher frequencies
have a shallow skin depth—that is less penetration
into the melt. Lower frequencies can generate
stirring or turbulence in the metal.
 CURIE TEMPERATURE:
The temperature at which alignments of
domain become random and material lose its
magnetism.
 At higher frequency, the heating due to hysteresis
become very small as compared to eddy currents ,
this is due to higher temperature attained by the
material at which it lose its domain alignment ,
thus become un magnetised.
 At higher frequency, eddy current losses also do
not follow f² law as frequency is increased higher
and higher.
FEATURES
 An electric induction furnace requires an
electric coil to produce the charge. This
heating coil is eventually replaced.
 The crucible in which the metal is placed is
made of stronger materials that can resist
the required heat and the electric coil itself
cooled by a water system so that it does
not overheat or melt.
 The advantage of induction furnace is a
clean energy efficient and well controllable
melting process compared to most other
means of metal melting.
 The induction furnace can ranges in size
from a small furnace used for very precise
alloys only about a kilogram in weight to
much larger furnaces made to mass produce
clean metal for many different applications.
 Foundries use this type of furnace and now
also more iron foundries are replacing
cupolas with induction furnaces to melt cast
iron as the former emit lots of dust and other
pollutants.
CONSTRUCTION
 There are many
different designs for
the electric induction
furnace but they are
centered around basic
idea.
 The electric coil is
placed around or
inside of crucible ,
which holds the metal
to be melted often this
crucible is divided into
2 different parts
 The lower section holds the melt in its purest
form ,the metal as the manufacturers desire
it , while the higher section is used to remove
the slag , the contaminants that rise to the
surface of the melt.
 Crucibles may also be equipped with strong
lids to lessen how much air has access to
the melting metal until it is poured out
making a pure melt .
Types of induction furnace
 There are two main types of induction
furnace , coreless and channel
CORELESS INDUCTION FURNACE:
 The flux produced in by the primary
winding sets up eddy current in the
charge which flow concentrically in the
primary winding.
 These currents heats up the charge to
the melting point and provide stirring
action to the charge.
 Since the frequency of
supply is very high the
skin effect in the
primary coil increases
the effective resistance
of the coil and hence
copper losses tends to
be high and additional
cooling is necessary.
The coil is therefore
made of hollow copper
conductor through
which cooling water
can be circulated.
ADVANTAGES OF CORELESS:
 They are fast in operation.
 If the frequency is high, the lower magnetic
flux density due to absence of iron core for
a given primary current would be
compensated for and the need for heavy
iron core can be eliminated.
 They are used for steel production.
 It is very widely employed for various
industrial activities like soldering , brazing ,
hardening and annealing drying paints etc.
Core type induction furnace
 Furnace having core with
secondary short circuited in
coil form around the furnace
and primary connected to
supply.
 It operates at a frequency of
order 10 Hz.
 If current density exceeds
about 500A/sq.cm , the current
around the melt interacts with
the alternating magnetic field
and completely interrupts the
secondary side. This is known
as PINCH EFFECT.
 This furnace is inconvenient where different
types of charges are to be melted.
 PRACTICAL EXAMPLE OF CORE TYPE
FURNACE:
AJAX-WYATT FURNACE:
This is normally used for melting
and refining brass and non ferrous metals.
 DISADVANTAGE OF CORETYPE:
the necessity of magnetic yoke , the short
circuited secondary formed by the charge and the
PINCH EFFECT, made the core type less popular.
ADVANTAGES OF INDUCTION
FURNACE:
 Higher yield. The absence of combustion
sources reduces oxidation losses that can
be significant in production economics.
 Faster Startup. Full power from power
supply is available instantaneously; thus
reducing the time to reach working
temperature.
 Flexibility. No molten metal is necessary
to start medium frequency coreless
induction melting equipment.
 Natural Stirring. Medium frequency units
can give a strong stirring action resulting in
a homogeneous melt.
 Cleaner Melting. No bi-product are
produced due to cleaner melting
environment.
 Compact Installation. High malting rates
can be obtained from small furnaces.
 Energy Conservation. Overall energy
efficiency in induction melting ranges from
55 to 75 percent, and is significantly better
than combustion processes.
DISADVANTAGES
 The one major draw back to induction
furnace usage in a foundry is the lack of
refining capacity; charge materials must
be clean of oxidation products and of
known composition, and some alloying
elements may be lost due to oxidation.
 Removal of s & p is limited, so selection
of charges with less impurity is required.
APPLICATIONS
 The large scale application of
electromagnetic induction has become very
commonplace in today’s manufacturing
industries. Many components are heated in
very large ovens or furnaces to several
thousand degrees Celsius.
 A simple induction furnace where the
object being heated is placed inside a
copper coil that carries a high frequency
AC current and cooling water within the
tube
 They range in use from the small, domestic
furnaces used for heating, to annealing
(heat treating) metal parts, hardening
metals, cap sealing, heat shrink fitting and
wire stripping. Even the de-gassing of
cathode ray tube components is done by
induction heating. The induction furnace is
also used to heat small items to weld the
parts together in router bits (used in
woodworking).
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