Induction heating device, induction heating equipment, induction heating method, and heat treatment method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10057945-B2
Application number	US-201214110410-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 6, 2012
Priority date	Apr 7, 2011
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

An induction heating device and an induction heating method are provided. The entire areas to be heated of the workpiece can be uniformly heated to a predetermined high temperature, and uniform heating is possible even when the workpiece deforms in a non-uniform manner during heating. When areas to be heated are established on a workpiece so as to extend in one direction and the areas to be heated are induction-heated, the deformation amount on one edge of the areas to be heated is different from that on the other. This induction heating device includes: heating coils facing a portion of the areas to be heated when the workpiece is induction-heated; and a relative transfer means for transferring the workpiece and the heating coils along one direction in a relative manner, and the heating coils are disposed so as to correspond to the areas to be heated during the heating period.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An induction heating device for induction-heating a workpiece on which areas to be heated are established extending in one direction comprising:
heating coils facing a portion of the areas to be heated which are established on a part of a surface of the workpiece; and
a relative transfer means for transferring the workpiece and the heating coils along the direction in a relative manner,
wherein when the areas to be heated are induction-heated, the side of one edge and the side of the other edge of the areas to be heated exhibit different deformation amounts in a width direction of the areas to be heated,
wherein the heating coils are disposed so as to correspond to the areas to be heated during heating period,
wherein, the heating coils are disposed facing the areas to be heated while a specified gap is maintained during the heating period, thereby the areas to be heated are heated uniformly across the entire width, and
wherein the heating coils are arranged over the entire length of the areas to be heated uniformly at given intervals from each other.

2. The induction heating device as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising: a displacing means for changing the orientation of the heating coils around a shaft along the direction in order that the surface of the heating coils facing the areas to be heated follows the areas to be heated during the heating period.

3. The induction heating device as set forth in claim 2 , further comprising: a posture control unit for controlling the operation of the displacing means in the displacing means so as to minimize or eliminate the difference in angle formed by the surface of the heating coils facing the areas to be heated and the areas to be heated during the heating period,
wherein the posture control unit comprises:
a setting input unit for inputting heating conditions of the workpiece;
an arithmetic processing unit for calculating the relative angle between the surface of each of the heating coils facing the areas to be heated and the areas to be heated in set heating state of the areas to be heated;
a heating state evaluating unit for evaluating that the heating state of the areas to be heated has reached the set heating state; and
a driving control unit for driving the displacing means when the set heating state has been reached.

4. The induction heating device as set forth in claim 3 , wherein the arithmetic processing unit calculates the relative angle in the set heating state by predetermined simulation processing based on the heating conditions, thereby calculating the angle between the surface of the heating coils facing the areas to be heated and the areas to be heated.

5. The induction heating device as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising:
a position detecting means for detecting surface positions of the workpiece other than the areas to be heated during the heating period; and
a displacing means for displacing the relative position between the workpiece and the heating coils based on the detection result of the position detecting means,
wherein the displacing means corrects measurement positions obtained by the detection result during the heating period based at least on the shape of the workpiece, and displaces the relative position between the workpiece and the heating coils so as to correspond to the corrected positions obtained by correction.

6. The induction heating device as set forth in claim 5 , wherein the measurement positions are measured as displacement from a reference position, and the corrected positions are corrected displacements obtained by correcting the measured displacements.

7. The induction heating device as set forth in claim 5 , further comprising: a posture control unit for controlling the operation of the displacing means in the displacing means,
wherein the posture control unit corrects the measurement positions using a correction coefficient corresponding at least to the shape of the workpiece, thereby obtaining the corrected positions, and at the same time, controls the operation of the displacing means so as to correspond to the corrected positions.

8. The induction heating device as set forth in claim 7 , wherein the posture control unit comprises:
a setting input unit for inputting heating conditions of the workpiece;
a storage unit for storing the correction coefficient in the set heating state of the areas to be heated;
a heating state evaluating unit for evaluating that the heating state of the areas to be heated has reached the set heating state;
an arithmetic processing unit for calculating the corrected positions from the measurement positions and the correction coefficient; and
a driving control unit for driving the displacing means so as to correspond to the corrected positions.

9. The induction heating device as set forth in claim 8 , wherein the arithmetic processing unit calculates the correction coefficient in the set heating state by the predetermined simulation processing based on the heating conditions, and the storage unit stores the correction coefficient obtained by the arithmetic processing unit by allowing it to correspond to the set heating state.

10. An induction heating device for induction-heating a workpiece where areas to be heated are established, extending in one direction, comprising:
a plurality of heating coils facing a portion of the areas to be heated which are established on a part of a surface of the workpiece;
a relative transfer means for transferring the workpiece and the plurality of heating coils along the direction in a relative manner; and
a displacing means for displacing the positions of the heating coils individually in a width direction of the areas to be heated,
wherein when the areas to be heated are induction-heated, the side of one edge and the side of the other edge of the areas to be heated exhibit different deformation amounts in the width direction of the areas to be heated,
wherein the displacing means displaces each of the heating coils, thereby making adjustment so that the area where the plurality of heating coils and the areas to be heated face each other changes in the width direction of the areas to be heated, and heating the areas to be heated by the plurality of heating coils,
wherein the heating coils are disposed facing the areas to be heated while a specified gap is maintained during heating period, thereby the areas to be heated are heated uniformly across the entire width, and
wherein the heating coils are arranged over the entire length of the areas to be heated uniformly at given intervals from each other.

11. The induction heating device as set forth in claim 10 , wherein one deformation amount that appears on one edge of the areas to be heated of the workpiece when the areas to be heated are induction-heated is different from that on the other,
further comprising: a posture control unit for controlling the operation of the displacing means in the displacing means,
wherein the posture control unit displaces the position of each of the heating coils corresponding to a gap between the areas to be heated and each of the heating coils during the heating period.

12. The induction heating device as set forth in claim 10 , further comprising: a power adjusting means for individually adjusting high-frequency power to be fed to the plurality of heating coils,
wherein the displacing means adjusts the position of each of the heating coils, and the power adjusting means varies high-frequency power to be fed to each of the heating coils, thereby allowing the plurality of heating coils to heat the areas to be heated.

13. The induction heating device as

Assignees

• Nakatsu Hitoshi
• Yoshioka Masato
• Tanaka Yoshimasa
• Ito Tsutomu
• Koyanagi Kenji
• SAGAE Masaki
• Ishii Tatsuya
• Misaka Yoshitaka
• Ogawa Yasuharu
• Neturen Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nakatsu Hitoshi
• Yoshioka Masato
• Tanaka Yoshimasa
• Ito Tsutomu
• Koyanagi Kenji
• SAGAE Masaki
• Ishii Tatsuya
• Misaka Yoshitaka
• Ogawa Yasuharu

Classifications

• H05B6/06

  Control, e.g. of temperature, of power · CPC title

• H05B6/40 Primary

  Establishing desired heat distribution, e.g. to heat particular parts of workpieces · CPC title

• H05B6/101 Primary

  for local heating of metal pieces · CPC title

• H05B6/04

  Sources of current · CPC title

• H05B6/44

  having more than one coil or coil segment · CPC title