Induction heating device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11711872-B2
Application number	US-202217837249-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2022
Priority date	May 15, 2019
Publication date	Jul 25, 2023
Grant date	Jul 25, 2023

Abstract

An induction heating device for heating a metal article includes a support plate with an upper surface for receiving the metal article, and a plurality of induction coils, which are arranged concentrically around an axis and are provided at an underside of the support plate. Each induction coil is connected to and selectively powered by a generator, and at least one temperature probe is disposeable on the metal article during heating in order to monitor and control the heating of the article.

First claim

We claim:

1. An induction heating device for heating a metal article, the device comprising: a support plate with an upper surface for receiving a side face of the metal article and an underside; a plurality of induction coils arranged concentrically about an axis and disposed beneath the underside of the support plate; an alternating current generator electrically connected with each one of the plurality of induction coils and configured to supply electric power to each induction coil; and a control unit electrically connected with the generator and configured to operate the generator to selectively power the induction coils, to determine the load on each one of the coils when each coil is being powered, and to estimate at least one dimensional characteristic of the metal article based on the load on each one of the coils; further comprising at least one temperature probe disposeable upon the metal article during heating in order to monitor and control the heating of the article.

2. The induction heating device according to claim 1 wherein the estimation of the least one dimensional characteristic includes a comparison of electric current demands within one or more of the induction coils when the metal article is located on the support plate with stored empirical data within the control unit.

3. The induction heating device according to claim 1 wherein the at least one dimensional characteristic of the metal article is at least one of the center of the article, the height of the article and the mass of the article.

4. The induction heating device according to claim 1 wherein the control unit is further configured to determine a heating strategy for operating the induction coils to increase the temperature of the metal article to about a target temperature, the heating strategy being based at least partly upon the at least one estimated dimensional characteristic.

5. The induction heating device according to claim 4 wherein the control unit is configured to determine the heating strategy by determining the amount of electric power to be supplied to each one of the plurality of induction coils during heating of the article to the target temperature.

6. The induction heating device according to claim 5 wherein the control unit is configured to determine the amount of electric power to be supplied to each of the plurality of induction coils by comparing current readings within the coils when the metal article is positioned on the support plate to calibrated readings obtained when no metal article is present on the support plate.

7. The induction heating device according to claim 4 wherein:
the induction heating device further comprises at least one temperature probe disposeable upon the metal article during heating in order to monitor and control the heating of the article; and
the control unit is electrically connected with the at least one temperature probe to receive temperature measurements from the probe and configured to adjust the at least one estimated dimensional characteristic and to adjust the heating strategy during heating of the article based upon temperature measurements from the at least one temperature probe.

8. The induction heating device according to claim 7 wherein the control unit is configured to measure the delay by which the measured temperature changes and to analyze the rate of change of the temperature to determine how much the temperature of the article will continue to rise once heating is stopped.

9. The induction heating device according to claim 7 wherein the at least one temperature probe is disposable upon an upper side face of the metal article and the control unit is configured to measure a delay in a change of temperature measured by the temperature probe and to correct a height estimation of the metal article.

10. The induction heating device according to claim 7 wherein the at least one temperature probe includes one temperature probe disposeable upon an upper side face of a bearing inner ring of the metal article and another temperature probe disposeable upon an upper side face of a bearing outer ring of the metal article.

11. The induction heating device according to claim 10 wherein the control unit is configured to operate the generator to selectively power the induction coils such that a difference between a measured temperature of the bearing inner ring and a measured temperature of the bearing outer ring remains within a predetermined value.

12. The induction heating device according to claim 1 further comprising a temperature indicator connected to the at least one temperature probe and configured to selectively display the temperature measured by the at least one temperature probe and to alternatively display a target temperature to which it is desired to heat the metal article.

13. An induction heating device for heating a metal article, the device comprising: a support plate with an upper surface for receiving a side face of the metal article and an underside; a plurality of induction coils arranged concentrically about an axis and disposed beneath the underside of the support plate, each induction coil being connected to and selectively powered by a generator; at least one temperature probe disposeable upon the metal article during heating in order to monitor and control the heating of the article; and a temperature indicator connected to the at least one temperature probe and configured to selectively display the temperature measured by the at least one temperature probe and to alternatively display a target temperature to which it is desired to heat the metal article; further comprising a control unit electrically connected with the generator and configured to operate the generator to selectively power the induction coils to heat the metal article to the target temperature.

14. The induction heating device according to claim 13 wherein the control unit is configured to determine the load on each one of the coils when each coil is being powered, to estimate at least one dimensional characteristic of the metal article based on the load on each one of the coils, to determine a heating strategy for operating the induction coils to increase the temperature of the article to about the target temperature, the heating strategy being based at least partly upon the at least one estimated dimensional characteristic.

15. The induction heating device according to claim 14 wherein at least one of:
the estimation of the least one dimensional characteristic includes a comparison of electric current demands within one or more of the coils when the article is located on the support plate with stored empirical data within the control unit;
the at least one dimensional characteristic of the metal article is at least one of the center of the article, the height of the article and the mass of the article; and
the control unit is configured to determine the heating strategy by determining the amount of electric power to be supplied to each of the plurality of induction coils during heating of the article to the target temperature.

16. The induction heating device according to claim 14 wherein the control unit is configured to at least one of:
adjust the at least one estimated dimensional characteristic and to adjust the heating strategy during heating of the article based upon temperature measurements from the at least one temperature probe;
to measure the delay by which the measured temperature changes and to analyze the rate of change of the temperature to determine how much the temperature of the metal article will continue to rise once heating is stopped; and
to op

Assignees

• Skf Ab

Inventors

• Caballero Alberto Javier Herrera
• Ramaker Antonius Everardus Theodorus Jozef
• Spitzer Davey Carolus

Classifications

• H05B6/101 Primary

  for local heating of metal pieces · CPC title

• H05B6/06 Primary

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

• H05B6/36

  Coil arrangements · CPC title

• H05B6/44

  having more than one coil or coil segment · CPC title

• C21D1/42

  Induction heating · CPC title