Influence of Electrical Conductivity on Heating Power of Metal Billets in HTS DC Induction Heater

A novel high-temperature superconducting (HTS) direct current induction heater exhibits great advantages such as high efficiency and superior heating quality for non-magnetic metal billet heating process in industrial applications. An HTS induction heater of 1 MW is used in the Al press industry. The HTS induction heater injects high resistive heating power through the driving motor. The higher the resistive heating power, the shorter the heating time. The heating power is a significant parameter used to analyze the heating time and improve the production efficiency. In this study, three types of non-magnetic metal billets were analyzed, including Al, TC4 (Ti-6AL-4V), and Cu, which are widely used in the heating process in industrial applications. The experimental results of the heating of TC4 and Al billets (Φ = 220 mm × L = 1,250 mm) using an HTS induction heater were obtained. The changing trend of the heating power during heating was different. The heating power of TC4 was different from those of Al and Cu. The heating power of TC4 was much lower than those of Al and Cu. A numerical 3-D finite element method model was built to analyze the heating power. The results of the simulation and experiments were consistent with each other. The electrical conductivity of the billet is a significant material property affecting the heating power. Finally, the influence of the billet diameter on heating behavior was analyzed for the three different metal billets. Understanding the effect of electrical conductivity of important industrial metals such as Al, Ti, and Cu alloys on heating power is useful for improving metal processing technologies.