Boat and coil designs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9544949-B2
Application number	US-201214373587-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2012
Priority date	Jan 23, 2012
Publication date	Jan 10, 2017
Grant date	Jan 10, 2017

Abstract

Vessels used for melting material to be injection molded to form a part are described. One vessel has a body formed from a plurality of elongate segments configured to be electrically isolated from each other and with a melting portion for melting meltable material therein. Material can be provided between adjacent segments. An induction coil can be used to melt the material in the body. Other vessels have a body with an embedded induction coil therein. The embedded coil can be configured to surround the melting portion, or can be positioned below and/or adjacent the melting portion, so that meltable material is melted. The vessels can be used to melt amorphous alloys, for example.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vessel for melting meltable material comprising:
a body extending longitudinally in a horizontal direction with a melting portion configured to receive meltable material to be melted therein, the body comprising:
a plurality of elongate segments arranged to form a melting surface;
an insulating material between each of the plurality of elongate segments to electrically isolate each segment from an adjacent segment;
the insulating material spaced a distance from the melting surface to form indentations in the melting surface; and
the body including a first opening to receive a plunger for horizontally moving the meltable material from the melting portion through a second opening; wherein the body comprises a substantially U-shaped structure.

2. The vessel according to claim 1 , wherein the insulating material includes an RF transparent material.

3. The vessel according to claim 2 , wherein the RF transparent material is an electrical insulator and of low thermal conductivity.

4. The vessel according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of elongate segments are formed from a stainless steel, copper-based, silver, or titanium material.

5. The vessel according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of elongate elements are configured such that the body has a base with side walls extending vertically.

6. The vessel according to claim 1 , wherein the body further comprises one or more temperature regulating lines configured to flow a liquid therein for regulating a temperature of the melting portion during melting.

7. The vessel according to claim 1 , wherein each of the elongate segments comprises at least one temperature regulating line configured to flow a liquid therethrough for regulating the temperature of the segment during melting.

8. The vessel according to claim 1 , further comprising an induction coil positioned adjacent to the body configured to melt the meltable material received in the melting portion.

9. A vessel for melting meltable material comprising:
a body extending longitudinally in a horizontal direction with a melting portion configured to receive meltable material to be melted therein;
the body formed from a plurality of elongate dielectric material segments arranged to form a melting surface in contact with the meltable material to be melted and wherein the body comprises a substantially U-shaped structure;
an induction coil embedded within the body configured to melt the meltable material received in the melting portion;
the body including a first opening to receive a plunger for horizontally moving the meltable material from the melting portion through a second opening in the body opposite to the first opening;
a vacuum mold for receiving the meltable material from the body; and
at least one vacuum source to apply a vacuum to the vacuum mold and the body.

10. The vessel according to claim 9 , wherein the embedded induction coil is configured to surround the melting portion.

11. The vessel according to claim 9 , wherein the embedded induction coil is provided in a spiral configuration.

12. The vessel according to claim 9 , wherein the embedded induction coil is provided in a pancake configuration within at least a bottom portion of the melting portion.

13. The vessel according to claim 9 , wherein the embedded induction coil comprises a substantially U-shaped configuration.

14. The vessel according to claim 9 , wherein a plurality of induction coils are embedded within the body adjacent to the melting portion.

15. The vessel according to claim 14 , wherein each of the plurality of embedded induction coils comprise a substantially U-shaped configuration.

16. The vessel according to claim 9 , wherein the embedded induction coil is provided in a birdcage configuration comprising loops adjacent each end of the body that are connected via elongate struts.

17. The vessel according to claim 9 further including temperature regulating lines within the body.

18. The vessel according to claim 9 further including temperature regulating lines adjacent to the body.

Assignees

• Pham Quoc Tran
• Deming Michael
• Waniuk Theodore A
• O'Keeffe Sean Timothy
• Stevick Joseph
• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Pham Quoc Tran
• Deming Michael
• Waniuk Theodore A
• O'Keeffe Sean Timothy
• Stevick Joseph

Classifications

• C22C1/11

  Making amorphous alloys · CPC title

• C22C45/001

  with Cu as the major constituent · CPC title

• B22D27/15

  by using vacuum · CPC title

• B22D25/06

  by its physical properties (B22D27/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H05B6/24 Primary

  Crucible furnaces (H05B6/30 takes precedence) · CPC title