Induction heat treating apparatus

A method of operating a continuous induction heat treating apparatus comprising:

• conveying a workpiece along a conveyor path defining an axis;
• measuring a shape parameter of a profile of a portion of the workpiece with at least one sensor at a position along the axis located in an upstream direction from an induction heating coil;
• conveying the portion of the workpiece through the induction heating coil while the induction heating coil is energized so that the portion of the workpiece is heated;
• conveying the heated portion of the workpiece along the conveyor path from the induction heating coil to a quenching station including a plurality of sprayers;
• adjusting, by the controller in response to an output of the at least one sensor representative of the shape parameter, a position of at least one of the plurality of sprayers with a quench adjustment mechanism including an actuator coupled to the at least one sprayer in order to re-position a point of intersection defined between the at least one sprayer and the axis for at least partially correcting the shape parameter during quenching;
• and
• quenching the portion of the workpiece by spraying water onto the portion of the workpiece from the plurality of sprayers.

A method of operating a continuous induction heat treating apparatus, the method comprising:

• conveying a workpiece through a first heating station along a conveyor path defining an axis so that the workpiece is heated by a heating element as it passes through the first heating station;
• conveying the workpiece though a quenching station having a plurality of sprayers spraying water onto the workpiece to quench the workpiece as it passes through the quenching station;
• operating at least one sensor to measure a shape parameter of the workpiece at a position along the axis in a downstream direction from the quenching station as the workpiece moves along the conveyor path;
• collecting a series of outputs of the at least one sensor representative of the shape parameter at the position with a controller programmed to receive the series of outputs of the at least one sensor in order to identify axial bowing of the workpiece relative to the axis;
• conveying the workpiece to a second heating station including an induction heating coil and copper laminations positioned relative to the induction heating coil for changing a heating distribution in the second heating station;
• and
• adjusting the copper laminations relative to the induction heating coil with an actuator coupled to the controller based on the series of outputs of the at least one sensor representative of the shape parameter in order to reduce or correct the axial bowing of the workpiece.