Induction hardening control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10138531-B2
Application number	US-201414491353-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2014
Priority date	Mar 12, 2009
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

An induction apparatus including a hardening control unit for controlling an induction hardening apparatus based on setup conditions data; a hardening monitoring unit that measures, as measurement data, the electric quantity in an electric circuit and that monitors an induction hardening status; and a data collecting unit that collects the data from various sensors in the induction hardening apparatus obtained when the induction hardening apparatus subjects the work to an induction hardening based on the setup conditions data outputted from the hardening control unit and that collects the measurement data from the hardening monitoring unit to store the collected data from the various sensors and the measurement data so that the collected data are associated to each other.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An induction hardening control system that is connected to an induction hardening apparatus configured so that a high-frequency inverter is connected to a capacitor and a heating coil and that controls an induction hardening to a work placed in the vicinity of the heating coil, comprising:
a hardening control unit that controls the induction hardening apparatus based on setup conditions data regarding the induction hardening apparatus;
a hardening monitoring unit that measures, as measurement data, an electric quantity in an electric circuit configured to include the high-frequency inverter, the capacitor, and the heating coil to monitor an induction hardening status; and
a data collecting unit that collects data from various sensors in the induction hardening apparatus obtained when the work is subjected to the induction hardening by the induction hardening apparatus based on the setup conditions data outputted from the hardening control unit and that collects the measurement data from the hardening monitoring unit to store the data collected from the various sensors and the measurement data so that the data collected from the various sensors and the measurement data are associated to each other,
wherein the induction hardening apparatus has a current transformer which has a primary coil and a secondary coil, the primary coil being connected to the high frequency inverter via the capacitor, the secondary coil being connected to the heating coil,
wherein the hardening monitoring unit measures an output current from the high-frequency inverter or a voltage at the heating coil as the measurement data, the output current measured by a current sensor electrically connected to a wire between the high-frequency inverter and the capacitor, the voltage measured by a voltage sensor connected to the heating coil,
wherein the hardening monitoring unit further comprises a signal processing unit that rectifies the output current and the voltage to calculate a first effective value and a second effective value and removes noises by filters and a determination unit that determines whether the calculated first effective value and the calculated second effective value are within predetermined threshold values, and
wherein the setup conditions data is data for setting an output intensity and an output time from the high-frequency inverter in the induction hardening apparatus.

2. The induction hardening control system according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement data includes a load impedance calculated based on the output current from the high-frequency inverter and the voltage generated in the heating coil.

3. The induction hardening control system according to claim 1 , wherein the hardening monitoring unit calculates the first effective value based on the output current from the high-frequency inverter and calculates the second effective value based on the voltage generated in the heating coil to thereby monitor an induction hardening processing based on the respective calculated first and second effective values.

4. The induction hardening control system according to claim 1 , wherein the hardening monitoring unit calculates the first effective value based on the output current from the high-frequency inverter and calculates the second effective value based on the voltage generated in the heating coil to thereby calculate a load impedance based on the respective calculated first and second effective values.

5. The induction hardening control system according to claim 1 , wherein the hardening monitoring unit and the hardening control unit are mutually connected via a communication means.

6. The induction hardening control system according to claim 1 , wherein the data collecting unit is connected to the hardening monitoring unit and/or the hardening control unit via a communication means.

7. The induction hardening control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the induction hardening apparatus is configured to heat the work by high frequency current from the high-frequency inverter to the heating coil and cool the work by jetting hardening liquid, and
wherein the data collecting unit that collects at least one of data representing temperature, flow, cooling power, and concentration of the hardening liquid when the work is subjected to the induction hardening by the induction hardening apparatus based on the setup conditions data.

8. The induction hardening control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the hardening monitoring unit measures output current from the high-frequency inverter and voltage at the heating coil as the measurement data,
the output current measured by a current sensor electrically connected to a wire between the high-frequency inverter and the capacitor, the voltage measured by a voltage sensor connected to the heating coil.

9. The induction hardening control system according to claim 1 , wherein the hardening monitoring unit further comprises a display unit.

10. The induction hardening control system according to claim 9 , wherein the display unit displays the first effective value, the second effective value, and the predetermined threshold values.

11. The induction hardening control system according to claim 9 , wherein the display unit displays a load impedance calculated based on the output current from the high-frequency inverter and the voltage generated in the heating coil, and upper-limit and lower-limit threshold values of the load impedance that are set in advance.

12. The induction hardening control system according to claim 1 , wherein the hardening monitoring unit further comprises a warning unit, which receives a warning signal from the determination unit.

13. The induction hardening control system according to claim 12 , wherein the warning unit performs a warning display based on the warning signal from the determination unit, generates warning sound to the outside, or instructs a controller of the high-frequency inverter to stop the output of high-frequency power.

Assignees

• Neturen Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ito Keisuke
• Yang Yue
• Ikuta Fumiaki
• Kitamura Taichi
• Ono Tetsuya
• Hoshiba Ken-Ichi

Classifications

• C21D1/10

  by electric induction · CPC title

• C21D1/42

  Induction heating · CPC title

• Y02P10/253

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• C21D11/00 Primary

  Process control or regulation for heat treatments · CPC title

• H05B6/06 Primary

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