By using induction brazing, the customer would achieve a significant cut on the brazing time, far beyond the one targeted, which would enable higher productivity rates.

The time-efficient simultaneous induction brazing of 8 steel pool bodies for a manufacturer in the pharmaceutical industry has recently been demonstrated by UltraFlex Power Technologies. UltraFlex is a major provider of induction heating solutions and frequently demonstrates the application of induction heating for a number of industries.

In this application, the manufacturer was looking to improve the productivity rate for their brazing process, aiming at not more than 45 seconds of brazing time for brazing a total of 8 assemblies. The assemblies were each represented by a nut ad pin, sitting into an aluminum fixture.

UltraFlex designed a custom induction coil which would be able to heat all 8 assemblies simultaneously, leaving some room on either end so the heat would spread in an uniform manner.

An induction heater from the UltraFlex UltraHeat SM 5 series had been considered most appropriate for this heating application. UltraHeat SM are compact and easy-to-use 5kW induction heating systems. They can be used with either a water-cooled or air-cooled remote heat station and feature an adaptive digital phase control providing efficient operation in a wide frequency range. They can also get easily tuned to a wide range of loads and coils.

At 4.3 kW of power output, it took only 30 seconds to reach the target temperature of 1350° F (732° C) and accomplish the brazing. Thus the customer would achieve a significant cut on the brazing time, far beyond the one he targeted, which would enable higher productivity rates. Thanks to the faster cycle times and the energy efficiency of the induction heating process, he would also achieve considerable savings in energy costs for this process.

In addition to ensuring repeatability and quality results with no dependency on the operator skills, the induction brazing would also be a safe process - safe to the operator and to the environment - due to the lack of open flame and noxious emissions.