INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRECISION ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING Vol. 13, No. 7, pp.

1085-1093

JULY 2012 / 1085

DOI: 10.1007/s12541-012-0142-z

Optimization of the In-line Induction Heating Process

for Hot Forging in Terms of Saving Operating Energy
Hong-Seok Park1,# and Xuan-Phuong Dang1
1 School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, University of Ulsan, San 29, Mugeo 2-dong, Namgu, Ulsan, Korea, 680-749
# Corresponding Author / E-mail: phosk@ulsan.ac.kr, TEL: +82-52-259-1458, FAX: +82-52-259-1680
KEYWORDS: Optimization, Induction heating, Hot forging, Energy-savings

Improving the efficiency of the manufacturing process is one of the ways to resolve the ecological issues, cost-saving
pressure, and new environmental legislations. This paper presents the study on the in-line induction heating process prior to
hot forging of an automotive crankshaft in order to find the potential solutions for improving the energy efficiency. The
heating strategy that divides the induction heating line into groups for flexible control and saving operating energy was
introduced. Optimization of the operating parameters of the induction heating system, including voltages and frequencies,
was done using design of experiment in conjunction with numerical simulation, approximation, and genetic algorithm
optimization techniques. In addition, thermal insulation was proposed to reduce the heat losses. The research results show
that the energy can be saved through process parameter optimization approximately 6%. Furthermore, if the insulating
covers at the open spaces between adjacent heaters are used, roughly 4% of additional amount of the energy consumption
can be reduced.
Manuscript received: November 30, 2011 / Accepted: April 22, 2012

1. Introduction
Energy-savings considerations in manufacturing processes have
been drawing a great attention to the designers and manufactures
because of the ecological issues, cost-saving pressure, and new
environmental legislations.1 Manufacturing companies have been
trying to produce more with less,2 so the improvement of
machining and process efficiency for manufacturing is one of the
promising solutions.3,4 Induction heating process has been
considered as a high productivity, repeatable quality, and green
heating technology compared to fuel-fired furnaces. This is the
reason why the induction heating, a best available heating
technology, is preferred in the forging industry.5,6 Induction heating
prior to hot forging, namely induction through heating, requires a
huge amount of electrical energy for heating a steel workpiece with
large volume from the ambient temperature to approximate
1150~1250C. Therefore, the increase in the electrical efficiency of
the heating system significantly saves the consumed energy.
Similar to other manufacturing technologies, energy-saving
solutions for induction heating are important issues that the
manufacturers and researchers always pay their attention. Solutions
for saving energy for industrial induction heating may include the
energy management, innovative components of induction devices,
KSPE and Springer 2012

energy recovery, and adaptive control.7 One of the effective ways to

resolve the energy-savings problem in induction heating is carrying
out the optimization process through parameter studies. Diverse
published works devoted to the optimization of induction heating,8-14
but most of them focused on how to minimize the temperature
deviation at the end of the heating process. Studies on minimizing
the energy consumption for particular manufacturing processes
have been still dimmed although the producers of induction heaters
are trying to increase the efficiency of their products. In addition,
issues related to the billets temperature distribution and power
distribution along the heating line is a controversial problem that is
rarely discussed in the literature.15 Therefore, studying the influence
of process parameters on the energy consumption and finding the
potential optimization of the in-line induction heating system are
the purposes of this research.

2. State of the research

Within the International Collaborative R&D Program
Development of information technology-based manufacturing
process system for energy savings hosted by KITECH, we have
been carrying out the sub-project Holistic process chain

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRECISION ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING Vol. 13, No. 7

Fig. 1 In-line induction heat a long bar prior to forging the

crankshaft
Heater
1

1400

Heater
2

Heater
3

Heater
4

Heater
5

Heater
6

Heater
7

Temperature (C)

1200
1000

Target
temperature

800

600

Fig. 3 Systematic procedure for optimizing the heating process

400
Center (3)

Surface (1)

Average (2)

200
0
0

Initial
temperature
100

200

300

400

500

Time (s)

Fig. 2 A typical temperature profile in the heated bar when using

in-line induction heating
optimization for forging production of automotive parts in terms of
manufacturing efficiency and saving operation energy. In this
project, the whole manufacturing processes, including induction
heating, forging, and cooling are considered holistically by
involving the interactions among manufacturing steps. This subproject aims at increasing 8% of the energy efficiency for the hot
forging production of automotive crankshafts. In addition,
productivity and quality of the product must be the same or better
than the current state.
As previously mentioned, induction heating step is the one that
consumes a great amount of energy compared to other stages in the
forging process. It also the first step of the manufacturing process
so that we focus this step in the first phase of the project. The inline induction system with of seven heaters for heating a long steel
bar with a diameter of 97 mm is shown in Fig. 1. The steel bar
moves continuously through the in-line heaters, and the velocity of
the heated bar is decided by a predetermined cycle time of the
forging process. In every cycle time, the heated steel bar is cut into
460-mm-long by the hot shearing before moving to the crankshaft
forging die.
Practical analysis shows that there is a potential improvement of
the induction system for increasing the energy efficiency by
optimization. We also carried out the investigation into the existent
induction system and found that the heat losses caused by
convection and radiation at the open spaces where the heated billet
exposes to the ambient air account for a significant amount of
energy. In addition, to heat the billet from the initial temperature to
the target temperature around 1220C using several heaters (see Fig.
2), there are many different temperature profiles or heating patterns

along the heating line. One may put more power into some heaters
at the beginning of the heating line or vice versa. It is clear that
different heating pattern strategies result in different energy
efficiencies and final temperature distributions at the end of the
heating process. In practice, the strategy of power distribution along
the heating line is mainly based on the rules of thumb.15
Therefore, the systematic analysis of the influences of power
distribution along the in-line heaters on the energy efficiency is
imperative. In this project, we do not focus on improving the
hardware or equipment such as power supplies, inverters, or
induction coils that were made by the induction heater manufacturer.
Instead, the optimum voltages and frequencies, which are the
changeable process parameters of the heaters in the induction
heating line, must be figured out by a scientific approach and
elaborated study rather than practice or experience.

3. Research methodology and systematic procedure for

optimizing the heating process
To save the experimental costs, the numerical simulation
method was used instead of performing a set of expensive physical
experiments. In addition, it is impossible to measure the
temperature distribution inside the heated workpiece by a pyrometer
while the workpiece moves continuously. In the case of induction
through-heating, the accuracy of the simulation result is very high
when the material properties and the simulation modeling are welldefined.16,17 Therefore, numerical simulation is an appropriate
choice for studying the behavior of the induction heating system in
this work.
The systematic procedure for optimizing the process parameters
of the induction heating is presented in Fig. 3. Firstly, we defined
the design variables, design constraints and performed the design of
experiments (DOE). Secondly, the numerical model of the induction
heating was developed, and the virtual experiments were then
carried out with different combinations of inputs in the design
matrix. Thirdly, the data obtained from the simulations was used to

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRECISION ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING Vol. 13, No. 7

JULY 2012 / 1087

Organizing the design of experiments

Performing a set of simulations

Continuous improvement or
change the metamodel type

Finding temperature distribution, temperature

derivation, power consumption, and energy efficiency

No

Fitting the metamodel by RSM method

Fig. 5 Layout of induction heating and the electromagnetic

principle

Is the metamodel adequate?

theoretical background of the mathematical and numerical

modeling of electromagnetic field governed by Maxwells
equations and the heat-transfer process are well presented in the
literature.23,24 Therefore, a brief presentation of the theoretical
background of the induction heating is presented in this paper.
The global system of equation modeling the electromagnetic
field is based on the Maxwells equations in the differential forms:

Yes
Performing optimization
Evaluating the optimized results
No

Is the accuracy satisfactory?

E =

B
(Faradays law)
t

(1)

Yes
Stop

Fig. 4 Algorithm of metamodel-based optimization

construct the approximate mathematical relations between inputs
and outputs using the second-order response surface model (RSM).
The approximate model was verified the fidelity before carrying out
the optimization process. Finally, the optimization was then solved
based on the regressive explicit equations obtained by the previous
approximation. This method is called metamodel-based
optimization approach. The algorithm of metamodel-based
optimization is shown in Fig. 4. The brief descriptions of above
steps are presented in the next sections.

4. Mathematical and numerical modeling of the induction

heating process
Induction heating is a complex electromagnetic and heattransfer process because of the temperature dependency of
electromagnetic, electrical, and thermal properties of material as
well as skin effect. The temperature profile of the heated workpiece
and the energy consumption are complicated functions of the
current density, frequency, material properties, coil design, the
coupling between coils and workpiece, and the characteristic of the
power supply. The layout of the induction heating system and its
principle are depicted in Fig. 5. In the physical aspect,
electromagnetic field and heat-transfer are complicated, and the
transient simulation takes a long computational time. To simplify
the numerical model, four acceptable assumptions are made in this
study: (i) ignore the helixcity of the coil (inductor),18,19 (ii) 2D
modeling is adequate for a spiral inductor,20,21 (iii) ignore the
moving effect of the heated billet, and (iv) heat transfer by
conduction in the axial direction is not taken into account.12,22 The

D
(Amperes law)
t

(2)

B = 0

(3)

D =

(4)

H = J +

where E and H are the electric field intensity and magnetic field
intensity, respectively; B and D are the magnetic flux density and
electric flux density, respectively; J is the current density, is the
electric discharge; and denote the curl operator and
divergence operator, respectively.
The system of Maxwells equations is couple with following
constitutive relations:

D = E

(5)

B = H

(6)

J = E (Ohms law)

(7)

where is the dielectric constant, and are the magnetic

permeability and electrical conductivity, respectively. They are
temperature independent parameters.
By taking Eqs. (5) and (7) into account, Eq. (2) can be rewritten
as
H =E +

E
t

(8)

In most application of induction heating of common metals, the

frequency of the current is less than 10MHz, the induced
conduction current J is much greater than the displacement current
density D / t , so the last term in the right-hand side the Eq. (8)
can be neglected. Therefore, the Eq. (8) can be rewritten as

H = E

(9)

Taking some vector algebra manipulations using Eqs. (1), (2),

and (6), it is possible to show that

1088 / JULY 2012

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRECISION ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING Vol. 13, No. 7

H
1

H =
t

(10)

For the axisymmetric condition or cylindrical coordinate, Eq.

(20) is rewritten as

E
E = 0
t
r

(11)

1 2 A0 1 A0 2 A0 A0
+
+

= J 0 + j A0
R 2 R R Z 2 R 2

where 0 and r are the relative magnetic permeability and

permeability of free space ( = 0 r ).
Since the magnetic flux B satisfies the zero divergence
condition (Eq. 3), it can be expressed in terms of a magnetic vector
potential A
B=A

(12)

From (1) and (12), we obtain

A

E + = 0
t

(13)

By introducing the electric scalar potential that satisfies

( ) = 0 using vector identity, Eq. (13) can be integrated as
E+

A
=
t

(14)

A

t

(15)

or
E=

2 A =

E
E
t

(16)

Substituting Eqs. (15) to (16), the electromagnetic field

equation in terms of A and can be expressed as
1

2 A =

2 A

A
+
+
+
t 2
t
t

It is necessary to see how the Eq. (20) applies region by region.

In induction heating application, there are three distinct regions for
consideration: the workpiece, the coil, and the surrounding air.
Since the coil is connected to an external source, the current
density consists of two components: impressed part and induced
part. The impressed part, which is refer to as Js, is due to an external
source and is defined by the gradient of the electric scalar potential
(Js = E = ). The induced part is generated by the timevarying magnetic field B in the coil itself. Therefore, in the coil we
obtain:
2 A j A = J s

In the workpiece, there is an induced current denoted by Js, but

there is no source term. The equation for this region is
2 A j A = 0

(17)

2 A = 0

A
is the eddy or induced current
conduction current density,
t
2 A

density, and 2 +
is the displacement current density.
t
t
Because the induction heating applied to hot forging operate in
low frequency, the hysteresis loss can be neglected. Thus, the
displacement current density can be omitted. The Eq. (17) can be
simplified as
1

2 A + J s

A
=0
t

and

A = A0e jt

(19)

2 A0 + J 0 j A0 = 0

(20)

(24)

T
k T = E 2
t

(25)

In the case of heating a cylindrical workpiece and the

cylindrical coordinate (R,,Z), Eq. (25) can be rewritten as

T T T 1 T
2

kR
=E
t Z Z R R R

(26)

where , c, k, are the material density, specific heat, and the thermal
conductivity, respectively.
The right side of Eq. (26) is the heat source due to eddy current.
A

where j = 1; A0 and J0 are the amplitude of magnetic vector

potential and source current density, respectively; is the angular
frequency ( = 2 f ).
Substituting A and Js into Eq. (18) we obtain

(18)

When electromagnetic field quantities are harmonically oscillating

functions with a single frequency, J and A can be expressed as
J s = J 0e jt

(23)

The source current density must be input to Eq. (22). When the
induction coil is fed by a voltage source, JS is the second unknown.
In this case, the computation of the equivalent impedance of the
coil-workpiece using circuit analysis is necessary.
The eddy currents derived from the electromagnetic model
induce the heat dissipated within the workpiece due to the Joule
heat effects. Temperature evolution within the workpiece is
governed by the classical heat transfer equation

where = J s is the source current density in the coil or the

(22)

For the air region, there is no current, so Eq. (20) simplifies to

Substituting Eqs. (5), (6), (7), and (12) to Eq. (13), we obtain

(21)

( A0e jt )
j t 2
= ( j A0e )
t

E2 = =
t

(27)

The specific heat and thermal conductivity are temperature

dependent. The thermal dependent material properties of the
workpiece (SCM440 steel) were obtained by using JMAT-pro
software and the data from the forging company.
Equation (25), with suitable boundary condition and initial
condition, represents the temperature distribution at any time and
any point in the workpiece. The initial temperature condition refers
to the temperature profile within the workpiece at time t = 0;
therefore, that condition is required only when dealing with

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRECISION ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING Vol. 13, No. 7

JULY 2012 / 1089

Fig. 6 Circuit-coupled FEM model of induction heating simulation

transient heat transfer problem in which the temperature is not only
a function of the space coordinate but also a function of time.
Different kinds of boundary conditions for temperature can be
prescribed at interfaces, including convection and radiation between
the workpiece and the surrounding air
k

T
= h(T Tair ) + emi b (T 4 Tair4 )
n

(28)

where h is the convection coefficient, emi is the radiation

emissivity, and b is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant.
The energy dissipated in both the workpiece and the coil. The
energy dissipated per cycle in these two components is given by
2
T
J 2
J
Q=
dv +
dv dt
0
coil

workpiece

(29)

Due to the complex of the electromagnetic and heat-transfer

process, the exact analytical method is very difficult to implement.
Thus, general-purpose FEM was employed to simulate the
induction heating process.
The FEM-based model of the induction heating process was
developed using APDL (ANSYS Parametric Design Language). To
reduce the computational time, only one turn of the coil is
considered. This simplification is sufficient when modeling an
induction heating system with a classical solenoidal inductor.19
Because the input of the Maxwells equations is the current density
meanwhile the induction heaters are fed by voltage supplies, the
circuit-coupled FEM model was employed as shown in Fig. 6. The
current flowing through the inductor turn depends on the impedance
of the system.
The movement of the billet through the heating line (space
variable) and the time dependence of the heating process (time
variable) are modeled by changing the boundary and initial
conditions. The output temperature distribution of the previous step
time is the initial condition for the subsequent step time. By this
manner, the radial and axial temperature distributions in the heated
workpiece are determined as a continuous steady state along the
whole heating line. In case of the in-line induction heating, the time
axis represents the length of the induction line.
Because the induction heating and hot forging line are working
on production, it is not allowed to disturb the manufacturing
process by physical experiments in the actual system. To validate

Fig. 7 Heating strategy that divides the heaters into three groups
fed by independent power supplies
the numerical simulation model, the surface temperatures of the
workpiece which are calculated by simulation after moving through
each induction heater are compared with the temperatures measured
in the existent workpiece. The temperature data were collected in
the factory when the induction heating line was operating with the
designated process parameters. The maximum error between the
temperatures obtained by simulation and those measured by the
pyrometer can be acceptable in mechanical engineering (54C,
equivalent to 4.5% of maximum relative error between measured
temperatures and simulation temperatures). It can be concluded that
the simulation model is currently adequate to replace for the
expensive physical experiments.

5. Heating strategy and energy efficiency analysis

Flexible manufacturing requires the induction heating systems
to have an ability of adapting to the change of the throughput while
keeping a reasonable energy efficiency. In addition, the energy
efficiency depends on the heating pattern along the heating line as
previously mentioned in the research hypothesis in Section 2.
Therefore, the seven heaters are divided into three groups with the
strategy described in Fig. 7. The group 1, including two heaters,
heats the billet below and around the Curies temperature. The
group 2 with three heaters is responsible for heating above Curies
temperature and gives a large portion of heat energy that transfers
from the surface of the billet to the center (through heating). The
group 3, including two heaters, just gives a small remaining portion
of energy to heat the billet up to the target temperature and mainly
compensates the heat loss caused by convection and radiation at the
hot billets surface at the final heating stage.
All the groups of heaters are fed the same voltage but different
frequencies. For voltage-fed induction heater, low frequency
generates more heat energy than high frequency. The frequencies f1
and f2 of group 1 and 2, respectively, are parametric studied. The
frequency f3 is estimated by an iteration algorithm in order to obtain
the target temperature. As the result, there are three design variables,
including voltage U, frequencies f1, and frequencies f2.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRECISION ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING Vol. 13, No. 7

The electrical energy efficiency is defined as the ratio of the

heat absorbed by the workpiece per unit time and the electric power
(voltage current) fed into the coils. This efficiency can also be
calculated by using power or heat energy.

t =

Pw Qw Qe Qloss
=
=
Pe Qe
Qe

(30)

where e, Qw, Qe, Qloss are the total electrical and thermal
efficiency, the heat stored in the workpiece, electric energy, and
heat losses, respectively.
The heat losses and the energy flow in the induction heating
process are depicted in Fig. 8. The heat losses cause by the
conduction into the equipment in the heating line is ignored because
they account for a small portion in comparison with other
components. The required electrical power, the Joule heat, the
thermal loss, and the heat absorbed by the workpiece can be
obtained in every step time by the simulation program. Thus, the
energy efficiency of every heater is obtained conveniently.

Table 1 The normalized coefficients (when the inputs and responses

are scaled in [-1,1] range) of the approximate RSM equations
Energy efficiency
-0.15183
0.85436
0.73895
-1.37908
-0.35786
-0.04397
0.15400
0.17307
0.31595
-0.11266

Intercept
f1
f2
U
f12
f22
U2
f1f2
f1U
f2U

Input electrical energy

1090 / JULY 2012

Q in =

Q eff = m c p d

U 0I0
t
2

6. Simulation, approximation, and optimization results

Full factorial design matrix was applied for parametric studies.
Three process parameters were chosen including voltage U,
frequency f1, frequency f2 as previously mentioned in Section 5.
The range of U, f1, and f2 are 45050 V, 7001100 Hz, and
9001300 Hz, respectively. Each parameter (factor) is divided into
three levels, so there are 33 = 27 experiments. Initial and final
temperatures of the workpiece are 25C and 1220C, respectively.
The emissivity or coefficient of radiation is selected as 0.75, and the
ambient air temperature is 25C. The temperatures of the inner
surface of the refractory inside the heaters were assumed to be
lower than the surface temperature of the workpiece 150C. The
billet moves with a speed of 460 mm per 25 seconds. The length of
each heater is 1000 mm, and the distance between adjacent heaters
is 300 mm. The geometry of the billet and the coil are partly
demonstrated with FEM model in Fig. 5.
The data obtained from simulation was used to construct the
relations between U, f1, f2 and all necessary outputs by using RSM
model (a type of meta-model25) and a systematic procedure as
presented in Section 3. Practically, there are some popular metamodels such as RSM, radial basis function, and Kriging model.
However, RSM is a well-known method and easy to use. The
second-order RSM model is suitable for modeling the moderate
nonlinear behavior with the low number of design variables (5~10
design variables). The benefit of RSM model is that the number of
experiment points is less than that of other models if the orthogonal
design of experiment method is applied. Because the induction
heating simulation is an extremely expensive computing cost (takes
about 11 hours for each simulation in this work), a reduction of the
number of simulations is necessary. In addition, the number of
simulations can be run on different computers to reduce the total
required simulation time. For these reasons, RSM model can be
considered as an appropriate approach.

Temperature deviation
-0.84387
-0.51830
-0.91653
1.18687
1.22150
1.11538
3.20126
1.57210
-3.57457
-3.66501

Heat losses
transfer to
cooling system

Electromagnetic
losses due to
coupling

Losses caused
by conduction
into equipment

Useful heat
stored in the
workpiece

convection and
radiation
losses

Fig. 8 The diagram of energy flow in the induction heating process

R =0.97

R =0.96

Fig. 9 Error analysis of the approximate models using crossvalidation method

The considered outputs include current, power, heat losses,
temperature distribution in the radial and axial direction,
temperature deviation in the cross-section of the workpiece at the
end of heating, and the energy efficiency. Second-order RSM model
for three design variables was applied to generate the approximate
relation between the process parameters and the target outputs such
as energy efficiency and temperature deviation.
3

i =1

i =1

y = 0 + i xi + ii xi2 +

i =1 j = i +1

x xj +

ij i

(31)

where 0, i, ii, ij are the coefficients that are shown in Table 1.

The fidelity of the approximate models was verified by the
cross-validation method.25 The model accuracy or the goodness of
fit of the response surface model is assessed by four error measures:
averages absolute error, maximum error, root mean square error,
and R-squared (R2). Figure 9 shows the result of the error analysis

Run counter

(b)

using cross-validation method. It can be seen that the R values are

close to 1. It means that the errors between observed and
approximated values are small; therefore, the selected RSM model
is adequate. The visual relation between inputs and outputs is
shown in Fig. 10.
In hot forging, both energy efficiency and the quality related to
the uniformity of temperature distribution in the workpiece are
important criteria. This research aims at saving the operating energy.
The energy efficiency is the most important criterion. Hence, the
energy efficiency is the objective function. Small temperature
deviation assures the heating quality of the workpiece. However,
after building the approximate relations between process parameters
and energy efficiency as well as the temperature deviation, we
found that minimizing the temperature deviation will decrease the
energy efficiency. In practice, it is unnecessary to reduce the
temperature deviation down to a too small value. Therefore,
temperature deviation is treated as a technical constraint. In case of
hot forging automotive crankshaft, the temperature deviation across
the cross-section of the billet is practically chosen in the range of
23 C, a strict value for a reasonable heating quality.
The optimization problem is stated as follows:
Maximize the energy efficiency
subject to: 2 temperature deviation 3, 700 f1 1100,
900 f2 1300, and 450 U 550.
To solve the optimization problem, genetic algorithm26 (GA)
optimization technique was used. GA is a global optimization
search that can avoid the local optimum compared to other gradient
search methods such as quadratic programming, generalize reduced
gradient, modified feasible direction, etc. Although GA can reach
the global optimum point, this method requires a lot of iterations for
function evaluation. Fortunately, the computer can perform
thousands of function evaluations per second when the explicit
meta-model (RSM model) is adopted. Therefore, the combination
of RSM and GA is the best choice for the intensive simulationbased optimization in this case.
Figure 11 shows the history of the optimization process using
genetic algorithm. It was found that the optimum values of voltage,
frequency f1, and f2 are 457 V, 1000 Hz, and 1274 Hz, respectively.
The frequency f3 was estimated at 1179 Hz. The maximum energy
efficiency is 63.5% (see Fig. 12), greater than the worse case in 27
experiments 6.8% (63.5% compared to 56.7%). Temperature
deviation is 3.0C in comparison with 10.6C of the worse case. It
can be seen that optimizing process parameters helps the induction

Run counter

Fig. 11 History of objective function and constraint using GA

Table 2 Optimization results of the cases without insulating cover
(a) and with insulating cover at the open spaces between heaters (b)
Optimum Voltage Frequency Frequency Total Temperature
f2
efficiency deviation
results
U
f1
(a)
457
1000
1274
63.5%
3.0C
(b)
452
912
1206
67.9%
2.9C

100.0
90.0

89.689.9

80.0

84.0
79.8

71.6
63.3

70.0

1400

Thermal & electrical efficiency

Electromagnetic efficiency

60.0

72.4

71.8
59.9

72.6

72.8

78.3
63.5
62.9

55.3

50.0

49.9

1200
1000
800

44.4
600

40.0
30.0

400

20.0

200

10.0
0.0

Average billet's temperature (C)

Fig. 10 The approximate relation between frequencies and the total

efficiency (a); frequencies and the temperature deviation (b)

Efficiency (%)

(a)

JULY 2012 / 1091

TempDeviation

TempDeviation

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRECISION ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING Vol. 13, No. 7

Heater
1

Heater
2

Heater
3

Heater
4

Heater
5

Heater
6

Heater
7

Total

Fig. 12 Electromagnetic efficiency and the total energy efficiency

heating system significantly increase the energy efficiency and the
heating accuracy.
Although the optimization was done, the total efficiency of the
heating system is still low compared to its common range (60% to
80%).21 One of the main reasons is the thermal losses due to
convection and radiation at the open spaces between adjacent
heaters (see Fig. 1). The simulation result shows that the heat losses
account for 6.9%, equivalent to 60.8 kW for the optimal case.
Reducing this number can increase the energy efficiency
significantly. Using proper insulating covers which reduce the
convection and radiation losses can increase about 4.4% of energy
efficiency compared to the case without the insulating covers (see
Table 2 for comparison).

7. Conclusion and future work

In summary, this paper investigates an in-line induction heating
process prior to hot forging. Simulation-assisted approach in
conjunction with DOE, approximation, and GA technique were
applied in order to optimize the process parameters of the induction
heating system. Through the optimization, the energy efficiency can
increase up to around 6%, and the temperature uniformity is better
than the un-optimized case. Specially, if the insulating devices are
used to reduce the radiation and convection at the open spaces

1092 / JULY 2012

between heaters, around 4% of energy can be saved after

optimization compared to the case without insulating cover. We also
found that increasing the heating accuracy (lowering the
temperature deviation) will decrease the energy efficiency. We
suggest that it is unnecessary to minimize the temperature deviation
below a certain value around 2~3C. Because the difficulties of the
testing condition, the verification of the results of numerical
simulation and optimization will be done by physical experiments
at the forging factory in the future work.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported by the Ministry of Knowledge
Economy, Korea, under the International Collaborative R&D
Program hosted by the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology.

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