Inductive Heating of Steel Skeins for Homogeneous Waste Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for processing end-of-life tyres and oil-hydraulic piping waste materials into reusable steel are inefficient due to high energy costs, non-homogeneous heating, and lack of flexibility in thermal control, leading to suboptimal quality and purity of the raw materials produced.
Innovation Solution
The process involves arranging harmonic steel skeins from waste materials into an induction furnace for inductive heating using alternate magnetic fields, followed by controlled cooling and fume treatment, allowing for precise temperature control and efficient oxidation of residual materials, and subsequent mechanical processing to produce high-quality reusable steel.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If traditional rotary drum furnaces are used for heat treatment of steel skeins, then the steel can be oxidized and softened, but the energy consumption is very high and heating is non-homogeneous
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical heating system (rotary drum furnace with hot air convection) with an electromagnetic induction heating system. The induction heating apparatus uses electromagnetic fields to directly induce eddy currents in the steel skeins, generating heat internally within the material rather than heating the surrounding air and relying on convection. This substitution achieves homogeneous heating throughout the skein while significantly reducing energy consumption, as the heat is generated directly in the workpiece without heating large volumes of air.
Solution Approach 2:
The induction heating process utilizes electromagnetic vibration and oscillation at high frequencies to induce eddy currents within the steel skeins. The alternating magnetic field causes rapid oscillation of electrons within the conductive steel material, generating heat through resistive heating effects. This vibrational energy conversion ensures uniform heat distribution throughout the skein structure, resolving the non-homogeneous heating problem of traditional furnaces.
2Productivity
If large furnaces are used to treat steel skeins in large quantities, then productivity increases, but the management costs and energy requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The induction heating system is designed with dynamic scalability, allowing the processing capacity to be adjusted by operating multiple heating zones orinduction coils in parallel rather than requiring a single large furnace. The system can dynamically adapt to different production volumes by activating only the necessary number of heating elements, maintaining energy efficiency across various throughput levels. This dynamic configuration allows high productivity when needed while avoiding the prohibitive energy costs of operating large furnaces at partial capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating system is divided into multiple independent induction heating zones or coils that can process steel skeins in parallel. Each zone operates independently, allowing the system to handle large quantities of material through simultaneous processing in multiple segments rather than sequentially in a single large furnace. This segmentation maintains energy efficiency by only activating the necessary number of zones based on current production requirements.
3Manufacturing precision
If traditional air heating is used in furnaces, then the environment can be heated, but the steel skeins are not heated homogeneously leading to non-uniform oxidation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the air convection heating mechanism with electromagnetic induction heating. The induction system uses electromagnetic fields to directly couple energy into the steel skeins, ensuring uniform heating throughout the material regardless of air flow patterns or furnace temperature gradients. This direct energy transfer eliminates the non-homogeneous heating and non-uniform oxidation problems associated with traditional air heating, achieving precise and consistent thermal treatment across all skeins.
Solution Approach 2:
The induction heating system incorporates feedback control mechanisms that monitor the heating process and adjust the electromagnetic field parameters to maintain uniform temperature distribution. Sensors detect temperature variations and feed this information back to the control system, which modifies the heating power distribution to ensure homogeneous heating and consistent oxidation across all steel skeins, achieving high manufacturing precision.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method reduces energy consumption and operating costs, enhances the quality and purity of the steel by ensuring homogeneous heating and flexible thermal control, while also effectively managing combustion fumes through regenerative thermal-oxidizer systems, resulting in sustainable and economically viable raw material production.
Implementation Method 1
an inductive exposure step B1 of the skein to be treated 3 to at least one alternate magnetic field for the induction of alternate eddy currents in the same skein
Implementation Method 2
The eddy currents, in particular, are adapted to raise the temperature of the skein to be treated 3, by heating the metallic material involved
Implementation Method 3
a fume treatment step D adapted to prepare the combustion fumes 4 and the residual combustion fumes 11 for their emission into the atmosphere
Data Source
AI summary
The procedure (1) for obtaining raw materials resulting from waste material comprises: the supply (A) of harmonic steel resulting from waste material and prepared in a skein to be treated (3); a heat treatment (B) of the skein to be treated (3) for obtaining a treated skein (3a);—a post-treatment (E) of the treated skein (3a) for obtaining steel reusable as raw material; where the heat treatment (B) comprises an inductive exposure step (B1) of the skein to be treated (3) to at least an alternate magnetic field for the induction in the skein to be treated (3) of alternate eddy currents adapted to raise the temperature of same.