INDUCTION HEATING DEVICE AND PROCESS FOR CONTROLLING TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION

摘要

An induction heating device (10) for controlling the temperature distribution in an electrically conductive material, or susceptor (60), when heated by induced eddy currents in the material. A non-electrically conductive material can be heated in a controlled manner by placing the material near to the susceptor. Variable power is applied to multiple induction coil sections (40) wound around the length of the susceptor from a power source by one or more switching circuits (30). The coil sections can be overlapped (80) or counter-wound (121) between adjacent coil sections, or provided power in a cascaded manner, to achieve desired temperature distributions in the susceptor. A control circuit (50) is used to control the power applied to each coil section and the output of the power source. By placing a non-electrically conduction material near to the susceptor the material can be heated in a controlled manner.