Inductoheat, Inc. recently designed, built and shipped a two-module InductoForge® induction billet-heating system to feed a 4,000-pound board hammer. This machine was designed specifically for heating 1-inch to 2.5-inch-diameter billets to 2450°F. This forging line starts with a 6,500-pound-capacity automatic bin tipper that allows a bin of 1-inch to 2.5-inch-diameter x 10-inch to 22-inch-long carbon-steel billets to be dumped into a vibratory bowl feeder with automatic refill. The billet bowl feeder provides continuous feeding of billets end to end on a pinch wheel in-feed system for precise control.

Once in the single-size induction heating coil, the billets are accurately heated to 2450ºF at a nominal rate of 250 pieces per hour. Process control is enhanced by IHAZ™ Temperature Modeling Software, which enables advanced temperature control of the billet heating process. After the billets are heated to the ideal temperature profile, they exit the induction coil on a fast-extractor conveyor, while the infrared temperature pyrometer activates the over and under accept/reject system.