Induction Wire Heating Applications & Equipment

Hot Heating Uniformity & Repeatability

Hot Heading Heat Uniformity and Process Control Repeatability are constant concerns for Hot Heading/Hot Forming manufacturers, especially when heating part diameters smaller than 0.125″. Our induction wire heating equipment, which can be used for many applications offers the uniformity and reliability needed for heating processes. Why do manufacturers face many problems when heating smaller parts? Learn more below.

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1. Wire is heated too slowly. Feeding the wire into the coil at the right speed is vital. The wire needs to be sufficiently heated prior to the first die blow. Feeding the wire into the coil too slowly could result in overheating, which could melt the wire in the coil, cause wire jam, or even lead to the wire catching fire.

2. Wire is heated too quickly. You need to heat the wire long enough so that there is still some residual heat left for the second die blow. You don’t want most of the heat to be pulled away during the first die-blow. If the wire is not hot enough during the second die blow, then the die may crack or get damaged. More importantly, you may get hair lines on the fastener.

So, either you can’t heat the wire quickly enough or you overheat the wire and melt it right in the coil. For heating small wire diameters, Hot Heading and Hot Forming can be quite tricky. In many ways, I see it as an art.

Most Hot-Heading/Hot Forming experts have come up with their own induction heating settings, i.e. Power-to-Speed ratio, setting the induction heater’s output power just right to heat the wire with respect to how fast it’s being fed into the induction coil.

3. Finding the right induction coil ID and the number of coil turns, i.e. coil wraps, is essential because it is imperative to heat the wire to its target temperature uniformly. Cut-off lengths also figure into the coil design – the longer the cut-off lengths, the more coil turns might be needed.

The coil turns might end up being only 2-3 wraps because you need to heat only a short length of the wire before the cut-off. The operator might have to move the coil towards the left side of the Hot-Header well, getting it closer to where the cut-off is located.

Coil pocket
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Process Control and Repeatability

Document your induction heating recipes: Once you have determined the desired and correct Power settings for your various wire diameters, what I call your “Secret Sauce”, make sure you can recreate them on-demand. The next time you are ready to run the same wire again, can you quickly re-call your previous settings and begin hot-forming, confident that you are within all of your needed tolerances?

Temperature Profile & Data Logging With Your Induction Heater: Can you also store and recall the target temperature and power settings for a wire diameter that you successfully heated last month? Both are vital to being able to repeat your success.

With constant, repeatable power generation, 100 storable processes, integrated data monitoring, data logging, and reporting all available in our power supplies’ Master Controller, we’ve got your concerns covered!

Induction master controller with screen photo

Induction Heating Master Controller Showing All The Induction Power Supply Settings, Which can be Recalled For a Particular Job-run

Using the High Definition display, Operators can easily recall the exact Power needed for a particular part run without wasting good wire for running pre-heat tests. Simply re-call the needed process from the master controller’s user-friendly graphical touch-screen display. 

Our IR Sensor can be connected to the Master Controller to monitor and record wire temperature on the fly.

Data Acquisition is also built in to the master controller, for repeatable and verifiable process control. All process parameters, including:

  • Coil Voltage
  • Coil Current
  • Output power setting and real-time reading
  • Temperature setting and real-time reading
  • Cooling water temperature and flow
  • Working cell (process/recipe)
  • Generator status
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Thermal Profile Management and Monitoring

  • Up to 20 Programmable Temperature and Time Segments per Process
  • Up to 100 different storable processes
  • Maximum Power Output Programmable for Each Individual Segment
  • Temperature Tolerance Window Programmable for Each Individual Segment
  • Out-of Tolerance and End-of-Cycle Outputs for Each Process

Thanks to the Thermal Profile Monitoring software, coupled with the new SH15/SLE Optical Pyrometers, the user is now able to set specific temperature profiles, and monitor and certify the heating process of each production item.

Thermal profile

Real-time Thermal Profile Screen, combined with Web server and Data Log option

Integrated Web Server and Data Log System

  • Integrated Webserver with 2-port 100base-T Ethernet switch
  • No client software is required, only a web browser
  • Zero configuration network for simple setup
  • Built-in Rich Internet Application (RIA) for Status Monitoring, Remote Programming, Logging and Thermal Profile Management
  • Internal storage capacity for more than 100,000,000 data samples 

 

Web server data log system

Data Logger Screen

With constant, repeatable power generation, 100 storable processes, and integrated data monitoring, logging and reporting, we’ve got your concerned covered!

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Sizing up the right Induction Power Supply

Sizing up the correct induction power supply depends on many factors. Here are some of the key points to consider that I have learnt throughout the years:

A. What materials and wire diameters do you wish to heat?
B. How fast do you need to heat your wire diameters?
C. Do you really want or need a dedicated Hot Header to run all your wire diameters? Or can you save money by purchasing smaller KW induction heaters, assigning them to Hot-Headers running smaller diameter ranges, and then utilizing your larger induction heaters for Hot-Headers running larger part diameters?
D. What is your coil design and do you need to change coils? Your induction heater selection might also depend on the coil ID and number of turns needed. Is the induction heater flexible enough to work with smaller 2-3 turn coils, having large or small IDs? Or is it acceptable to “re-tune” the power supply to make it work with every coil change? Some induction power supplies might not be as flexible as others for working with multiple coil turns or ID options.

Contact us at: 1-800-956-3941 or send us a message to see how our combination of decades of industry experience and superior induction power supplies can resolve your heat uniformity and repeatable process control issues, all within your budget.

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