INDUCTION HEATING DEVICE OF ELEMENTS WITH COMPLEX SHAPES TO PROVIDE A CONSTANT-DEPTH SURFACE HARDENING

摘要

A device for the simultaneous induction heating of elements with complex shapes e.g. camshafts to provide a localized surface hardening of the elements to a constant depth all over the periphery of the element. This is accomplished by causing that the outside profile of the element to be heated and the inside profile of the inductor are geometrically similar and the clearance is minimum thus providing a tight coupling. The device consists of a construction (5) including inductors (1), (2), (3), (4) and hydraulic pistons (7) that move the mobile portion (10) of each inductor, thus allowing the loop to be opened and the element to be positioned. The hydraulic pistons can be replaced by pneumatic pistons or electromechanical actuators. The inductors consist of two portions: portion (10) is moved by pistons (7) and portion (11) is integral with the construction. Once the surfaces (12) of the two portions are brought into contact with each other, they form a closed loop having the inside profile geometrically similar to profile (8) of the element to be heated.