Design of an induction heating coil coupled with magnetic flux concentrators for barrel heating of an injection molding machine

In an injection molding machine, the conventional barrel heating system which uses resistance heating method (RH) has some drawbacks such as low heating rate, long heating time, and energy loss. With induction heating (IH) technique, the barrel can better handle almost all of these disadvantages. However, non-uniform temperature distribution on inside surface of a barrel is the main drawback of induction heaters. A working coil coupled with magnetic flux concentrators via adjustment of magnetic flux concentrator spacing to achieve uniformity of magnetic flux and temperature distribution on the inside surface of a barrel was proposed and experimented. Results showed that, when barrel was heated by induction heating method with the proposed induction heating coil, heating time to reach a specific temperature could be reduced, and heating rate increased compared to resistance heating method. With 8 mm pitch of magnetic flux concentrators on a coil, the temperature distribution was the most uniform.