Induction heating techniques are used extensively in the automotive industry. For 60 years, induction heat-treating has enhanced the manufacturing process for many systems, automotive OEM manufacturers, and Tier 1 suppliers, enabling components to improve.
Induction heating in the automotive industry is used for hardening of various automotive parts. The process is used for the thermal treatment of parts in assemblies, bearings, brakes, powertrains, gears, joints, and shafts. Induction smelting systems heat wide-range diameter bars and billets for a range of manual and extractive tools, including ubiquitous tools like hammers, wrenches, knives, chisels, drill bits, screwdrivers, and more such as saw blades, shovels, and gears.
Induction heating devices infuse metals, which allows better shaping for engineering parts like automotive axles and shafts. In addition, induction heating coils allow for precise and efficient welding of joints, die hardening, annealing metal surfaces for added flexibility and strength, etc. Face-heating coils can be used for general heating and various brazing applications.
Induction hardening allows parts to be processed on demand and in a manner that does not take hours to complete, unlike alternative thermochemical heat treatment methods.
From a competitive perspective, it makes sense to enable more significant advantages by utilizing the heat-treating technique to improve the metal parts produced.
Many, if not all, suppliers of powertrain parts are doing a portion of their heat-treating in-house, with a mixture of ovens and induction machines used to treat components.
Induction Heating in Lean Manufacturing
The auto industry has increased the demand for faster, more efficient heat technologies and designs driven by lean manufacturing methods to optimize production processes. As the design of automobile drive trains increases in complexity, so too must original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that develop and deliver the heating processes.
EMF Induction
Double-frequency induction heating is used on rollers for optimum heating depth, like high-modulus gears, annealing of welded steel tubes, or tempered. Because the heat can be applied rapidly to a particular region, EMF induction produces far less metal distortion than thermochemical methods, which depend upon a process of high-temperature diffusion, sometimes eliminating or diminishing the need for subsequent grinding or machining after heat treatment.
Induction coils can be designed to deliver the required current density into an exact region of a piece that needs heat treatment rather than heat treating an entire part. This is because the heat generated internally from a metal object results from the induced electric current.
Electric Vehicles
While the internal combustion engine will be around for a few more decades, electric car manufacturing is ramping up. It will use induction extensively, if not more than it is already used in the automotive industry. Let us discuss the system designed to enable your manufacturing line to effectively and efficiently heat-treat parts for electric vehicle components. Today, auto parts manufacturers use various alloys to build a single component.
Induction heating is a process that uses electromagnetic induction to heat electrically conductive objects. The process is faster, more accurate, and safer than many alternatives. Induction heating, for instance, offers an appropriate depth of field, lower distortion, and outstanding repeatability because it is a one-piece process.
As a result, components are quickly heated and can be done with excellent reliability and control.
Induction heating is one of the main applications of resonant converters for metalworking. It is used in numerous ways to enhance EV parts performance. Some other popular applications that employ induction heating for electric vehicle manufacturing include soldering, bonded, cured, battery manufacturing, stamped, formed, and anodized engine components.
Unlike conventional induction heating methods for parts fitting, the electric car components induction fitment requires no open flames, and the temperatures are easy to monitor. Induction shrink fitting for electric vehicles is a process in which a heat-inducing heater heats the electrically-conductive parts beforehand, causes them to expand, and allows the other item to be fitted to or removed from them.
Induction Heating Applications in Automotive Industry
Induction Hardening: Camshafts, Gears, Curing Special Coatings and Adhesives, Engine Part Valves, Rods, Starter Rings, Crankshafts, CV Joints, Axle Shafts, Gearbox Parts, Brake Pads
Induction Annealing: Dashboards, Wire Harnesses, Wire Terminals
Induction Heating: Curing Adhesives, Bonding Metal to Plastic and Glass, Preheating Gear Wheels, Post-heating Brake Discs, Straightening Steel Chassis,
Shrink-Fitting: Electric Motor Housings, Mounting Stators
Induction Tempering: Engine Camshafts, Couplings, Suspension Arms, Torsion Bars, Clutches, Rock Drills, Shock Absorbers, Valves, Output Shafts, Drive Shafts, Rocker Arms, Brake Discs
Induction Brazing: A/C System Parts, Brake Linings, Fuel Injection Pipes, Electric Motor Short-Circuit Rings, Chains, Steering Wheels
