Importance

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Abstract

An environmentally controlled heating system for heating metal alloy billets wherein a trolley system carries the billets through the chambers of the induction heating system in crucibles that are pushed or pulled by actuators. The billets enter the system through a load-chamber and travel through a main chamber to a heating area where the loaded crucibles pass through a series of induction heating coils. The heated billets leave the heating area through a dump-chamber where they are delivered to a forming system. The empty crucibles reenter the main chamber and travel back to the loading area to receive another billet. The heating system is controlled through a computing device for monitoring and controlling the system, preferably a programmable logic controller. A vacuum system evacuates air from the chambers, and an inert gas system back-fills the chambers with an inert gas. A gettering system continually cleans the inert gas. Vacuum gates around the load and dump chambers isolate the induction heating system from ambient air and allow for air evacuation and back-filling of the load and dump chambers with the inert gas whenever a billet enters or leaves the induction heating system.

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First Claim