Optimal control of induction heaters for forging

Induction heating installations are of considerable current use in forging industry. During last decades heating by induction is a popular approach for heating of slabs, blooms, billets, bars, tubes, strips, wires, rods, and other components made of both ferrous and nonferrous metals. Modern industry development demands very strict typical technological requirements to induction heating processes and the number of such requirements increases constantly. That is why the optimization of the industrial induction heaters by the certain quality criteria becomes vitally important. Optimal control is a powerful tool to improve efficiency of induction heater operation modes and design characteristics. The paper presents new optimization strategy that is based on optimal control methods. Main features and advantages of the developed optimal control techniques are discussed. Some examples show results of optimal control techniques application for induction through heating installations operating in steady state and transient modes. New optimization method could be recommended to practical application with respect to different economical quality criteria.