Induction furnace using arduino

Project Title

Induction furnace using arduino

Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject Summary

Induction heating is a non-contact heating process. It uses high frequency AC to heat materials that are electrically conductive. Since it is a non-contact type heating process, it does not contaminate the material being heated. Similarly, the molten material does not contaminate the heating element or source. It is also very efficient since the heat is actually generated inside the “work-piece”, thereby preventing chances of leakage of heat. This can be contrasted with other heating methods where heat is generated in a heating element, only a part of which is then utilized to heat-up the work piece. A sizeable fraction of the heat is un-utilized lowering the heating efficiency. Over and above there is minimal environmental pollution. For these reasons, induction heating lends itself to some unique applications in the industry. The electric induction furnace is a melting furnace, uses electric current to melt electrically conductive materials. Induction furnaces are widely used for melting a wide variety of metals with minimum melt losses. The principle of induction furnace is Induction heating. Induction heating is a form of non-contact heating for conductive materials. In induction heating a source of high frequency is used to drive a large alternating current through a coil. This coil is known as the work coil. The passage through this coil generates a very intense and rapidly changing magnetic field in the space within the work coil. The work-piece to be heated is placed within this intense alternating magnetic field. The alternating magnetic field induces a current in the conductive work-piece. The arrangement of the work coil and the work-piece can be thought of as an electrical transformer. The work coil forms the primary where electrical energy fed in, and the work piece forms a single turn secondary that is short-circuited. This causes high currents to flow through the work piece. These are known as eddy currents. In addition to this, the high frequency used in induction heating applications gives rise to a phenomenon called skin effect. This skin effect forces the alternating current to flow in a thin layer towards the surface of the work-piece. The skin effect increases the effective resistance of the metal to the passage of the large current. Therefore it greatly increases the heating effect caused by the current induced in the work-piece.

Project Objectives

In these days of advancement and competition, technology is improving day by day. So, it is necessary to design a furnace that have low energy losses, high production rate and clean working environment. There are several methods to heat an object without induction. Some of the more common industrial practices include gas furnaces, electric furnaces, and salt baths. These methods all rely on heat transfer to the product from the heat source (burner, heating element, liquid salt) through convection and radiation. Once the surface of the product is heated, the heat transfers through the product with thermal conduction. Induction heated products are not relying on convection and radiation for the delivery of heat to the product surface. Instead, heat is generated in the surface of the product by the flow of current. The heat from the product surface is then transferred through the product with thermal conduction. The depth to which heat is generated directly using the induced current depends on something called the electrical reference depth. The electrical reference depth depends greatly on the frequency of the alternating current flowing through the work piece. Higher frequency current will result in a shallower electrical reference depth and a lower frequency current will result in a deeper electrical reference depth. This depth also depends on the electrical and magnetic properties of the work piece. Inductotherm Group companies take advantage of these physical and electrical phenomena to customize heating solutions for specific products and applications. The careful control of power, frequency, and coil geometry allows the Inductotherm Group companies to design equipment with high levels of process control and reliability regardless of the application. The main purpose of our project is to design efficient, low cost, high production rate and low energy losses electric induction furnace to reach industries need.

Project Implementation Method

Design of the Investigation First of all, 220V AC is supplied to the transformer. Step down Transformer reduce the voltage to 20V AC. A rectifier is connected to convert the AC to DC. A Capacitor is connected parallel to Bridge rectifier which act as a filter, and reduce the ripple. H bridge Inverter invert the DC into AC which is connected to the frequency controller. A pulse is applied at the gate of MOSFET to get variable frequency at the output of inverter. By increasing the frequency, eddy current losses increase which will produce heat inside the coil to melt the metal.

Hardware This Project is completely Software Simulation Based so there is no hardware implementation.

Software Proteus Professional 8 is used for simulation and ARDUINO IDE is used for Programming.

Proteus Professional 8 Proteus is one of the famous software to make circuit and run simulation. It is easy to use and easy to observe.

Benefits of the Project

? Targeted heating for surface heating, melting, soldering is possible with the inductive heating process. ? Besides metals, heating of liquid conductors and gaseous conductors is possible by inductive heating. ? For heating of silicon in semiconductor industries, the inductive heating principle is used. ? This process is used in inductive furnaces for to heat metal to its melting point.

? As this is a contactless heating process, vacuum furnaces make use of this process for making specialized steel and alloys that would get oxidized when heated in the presence of oxygen. ? Induction heating process is used for welding of metals and sometimes plastics when they are doped with ferromagnetic ceramics. ? Induction stoves used in the kitchen works on the inductive heating principle. ? For brazing carbide to shaft induction heating process is used. ? For tamper resistant cap sealing on bottles and pharmaceuticals, the induction heating process is used. ? Plastic injection modeling machine uses induction heating to improve energy efficiency for injection.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

A high power rating power supply and it will be transformer base(power supply pcb)

Inverter designed with MOSFETS.

Inductors

An important part is Coil.

ALL PARTS WILL BE IMPLEMENTED ON A SINGLE BOARD AND WILL BE DELIVER.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry Energy Other Industries Others Core Technology OthersOther Technologies Clean TechSustainable Development Goals Affordable and Clean Energy, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	23580
PT	Equipment	1	5000	5000
DIODES	Equipment	4	100	400
RESISTORS	Equipment	6	20	120
CAPACITORS	Equipment	5	100	500
TRANSISTOR	Equipment	4	30	120
MOSFETS	Equipment	4	250	1000
ARDUINO	Equipment	1	2100	2100
LCD ARDUINO	Equipment	2	1200	2400
PCB	Equipment	2	500	1000
COIL	Equipment	1	3000	3000
ETCHING	Miscellaneous	1	1000	1000
VOLTMETER	Equipment	1	500	500
AMETER	Equipment	1	500	500
BUZZERS	Equipment	3	50	150
BUTTONS	Equipment	3	30	90
FUSE	Equipment	1	250	250
CASE	Equipment	1	2500	2500
WATER PUMP	Equipment	1	600	600
PIPES	Equipment	1	200	200
PENAFLEX	Miscellaneous	2	1000	2000
LM35	Equipment	1	150	150