Induction Heating

Brown et al. present a simplified approach to understand the principles of induction heating. Induction heating of metals is an important industrial application. In induction heating, there is a coupling between the electrical, electromagnetic, and thermal phenomena. To illustrate this point, authors consider the induction heating of magnetic steel. The application may be, for example, surface hardening for gears or axles. As they apply current to the induction coil, the steel work-piece saturates magnetically. This affects the skin depth and the impedance seen from the power supply, which in turn affects the current from the power supply. Another coupling is due to the effect of the temperature on the resistivity of the steel. During the induction heating process, the temperature is usually rising very rapidly and the resistivity of the load is continuously changing.