Railless support of billets within electric induction heating coils
AssigneeInductoheat, Inc.
InventorsChirag G. Sitwala, Gary A. Doyon, Doug R. Brown
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A railless billet electric induction heating apparatus and method is provided where billets are continuously or statically heated by induction by moving the billets without billet support rails through an induction coil supplied with alternating current power when the billets are in direct sliding contact with the interior surface of a clay graphite billet slider disposed within the induction coil. The clay graphite billet slider can also provide thermal insulation between the induction coil and the clay graphite billet slider to eliminate the requirement for a separate induction coil refractory.
Claims14
A clay graphite billet slider for moving a billet through an at least one induction coil supplied with an alternating current with the billet seated on the clay graphite billet slider when moving through the at least one induction coil, the clay graphite billet slider having a slider composition of:
- carbon (C) between 30 to 40 percent by weight;
- silicon carbide (SiC) between 8 to 12 percent by weight;
- silicon dioxide (SiO2) between 15 to 25 percent by weight;
- and
- aluminum oxide (Al2O3) between 10 to 20 percent by weight.
A railless billet electric induction heating system comprising:
- an at least one induction coil;
- an at least one alternating current power source connected to the at least one induction coil;
- and
- a clay graphite billet slider disposed within each of the at least one induction coil, the clay graphite billet slider formed from a slider composition of:
- carbon (C) between 30 to 40 percent by weight;
- silicon carbide (SiC) between 8 to 12 percent by weight;
- silicon dioxide (SiO2) between 15 to 25 percent by weight;
- and
- aluminum oxide (Al2O3) between 10 to 20 percent by weight,
- the clay graphite billet slider electrically isolated from the at least one induction coil, an interior surface region of the clay graphite billet slider forming a billet slider surface for moving a billet seated on the interior surface region of the clay graphite billet slider through the at least one induction coil to statically or continuously heat the billet to a target temperature.
A method of forming a billet electric induction heating system, the method comprising:
- providing an at least one induction coil connected to an at least one alternating current power source;
- forming at least one clay graphite billet slider from a composition of:
- carbon (C) between 30 to 40 percent by weight;
- silicon carbide (SiC) between 8 to 12 percent by weight;
- silicon dioxide (SiO2) between 15 to 25 percent by weight;
- and
- aluminum oxide (Al2O3) between 10 to 20 percent by weight;
- inserting each of the at least one clay graphite billet slider within each of the at least one induction coil, each of the at least one clay graphite billet slider having an interior billet through opening with an interior slider surface for sliding a billet seated on the interior slider surface through the at least one induction coil;
- and
- electrically isolating each of the at least one clay graphite billet slider from the at least one induction coil in which the at least one clay graphite billet slider is inserted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.