Control of power to an inductively heated part
OwnerDouglas R. Adkins, Charles A. Frost +3inventors
InventorsDouglas R. Adkins, Charles A. Frost, Philip M. Kahle, J. Bruce Kelley, Suzanne L. Stanton
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Abstract
A process for induction hardening a part to a desired depth with an AC signal applied to the part from a closely coupled induction coil includes measuring the voltage of the AC signal at the coil and the current passing through the coil; and controlling the depth of hardening of the part from the measured voltage and current. The control system determines parameters of the part that are functions of applied voltage and current to the induction coil, and uses a neural network to control the application of the AC signal based on the detected functions for each part.
Claims9
A process of induction hardening a part to a desired depth with an AC signal applied to the part from a closely coupled induction coil comprising:
- measuring parameters representative of the AC signal;
- generating signals representative of the AC signal from the measured parameters;
- processing the generated signals through a trained neural network to determine the depth of hardening of the part;
- and
- modifying the AC signal when the estimated depth of hardening reaches a predetermined value indicative of a desired depth of hardening.
A system for induction hardening a part to a desired depth comprising:
- an AC power supply having an AC output;
- induction coil means connected to said AC output for closely coupling AC to a part;
- voltage measuring means for measuring the voltage of the AC output at the coil;
- current measuring means for measuring the current passing through the coil;
- and
- control means, connected to said voltage and current measuring means, comprising
- means for generating signals representative of the energy at the part and the resistance of said induction coil from the measured voltage and current, wherein changes in the energy signal reflects the effects of heating on the part, and changes in the resistance signal indicate changing properties of the material of the part;
- and
- a trained neural network for processing the generated signals to estimate the depth of hardening of the part;
- and
- means responsive to an output from said neural network for controlling the AC output when the estimated depth of hardening reaches a predetermined value indicative of a desired depth of hardening.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.