Electric Heating and Welding

Introduction
Methods of electric heating equipment
Resistance ovens
induction heating
Dielectric heating
Arc furnace
Heating of buildings
Electric welding, resistance welding and welding
 Introduction
Heating are required for
Domestic : Hotplates for cooking /room heater
/immersion heater for water heating /iron /
toasters / electrical ovens etc
Industrial :Melting metals /treat treatment
processes/ Moulding of glasses/welding etc
Advantage
 clean / no flue gases /simple and accurate
temperature control/ cheaper / ease for over
current protection / efficient
 Cont..
Modes of heat transfer
Conduction
Convection
Radiation
Conduction
Transfer of heat from one part of material to another
part which are physically connected
Rate of flow of heat through simple homogenous
solid is directly proportional to area of X section right
angle to the direction of heat flow and change in
temperature with respect to length of path of heat
flow
 Cont.. d

b
h
Pcond heat flow
direction

Temperature = T 2 T2> T Temperature = T

1 1

• Where k is thermal conductivity

• L length of material in which heat flows
• A X area perpendicular to direction of heat
flow
•  thermal resistance of material
 Cont

• Heat flow Pcond [W/m2]

• k= Thermal conductivity has units of W-m-1-C-1
• The amount of energy conducted through a body
of unit area and unit thickness in unit time when
the difference in temperature between the faces
causing heat flow is unit
• The Thermal conductivity depends upon
material structure /moisture content / pressure
and temperature etc
 Cont ..
• Thermal Conductivity

Sn. Material Thermal Cond.

No W/mK
1 Silver 410
2 Copper 385
3 Aluminum 225
4 Cast Iron 55-65
5 Steel 20-45
Convection
Heat transfer from surface of core to tank
(Xformer ) or by fluid is called convection
It can be natural or forced
Depends upon specific heat of fluid and
velocity
In natural heated fluid density decreases so
it is replaced by cold fluid
Mathematically
 Cont..
• Where Q is rate of convective heat transfer
• A area exposed to heat transfer
• Ts surface temperature
• Tf is final temperature of fluid
• coefficient of heat transfer h
• Cofficient of heat transfer is defined as amount
of heat transmitted for unit temperature
difference between the fluid and unit area in unit
time
• It depends upon properties like velocity /
viscosity, specific heat / nature of fluid flow
/geometry of surface
 Radiation
Stefan-Boltzmann law describes radiative heat
transfer.
Prad = 5.7x10-8 EA [( Ts)4 -( Ta)4 ] ; [Prad] = [watts]
E = emissivity; black anodized aluminum E = 0.9 ;
polished aluminum E = 0.05
A = surface area [m2]through which heat radiation
emerges.
Ts = surface temperature [K] of component. Ta =
ambient temperature [K].
 Methods for electrical Heating
Power Frequency Heating C
Resistance Heating
Direct Heating –current is passed through body to be
heated / high efficiency / used in resistance welding ,
electrode boilers
Indirect Heating – I2 R loss is utilized to heat material /
Transfer is done by convection or radiation / used in
immersion heater and resistance oven
Arc Heating - arc between two electrode develops
high temp (3000 to 3500 0 C/ used for heating
Direct
Indirect
 Cont

High Frequency Heating

Induction Heating -Heating – elcctro-magnetic
induction in core / eddy current losses /f2
Direct core
Core Less
Dielectric Heating –High frequency capacitive
heating / dielectric heated
ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS OF GOOD HEATING
ELEMENT

• High-specific resistance
• High-melting point
• Low temperature coefficient of resistance
• Free from oxidation
• High-mechanical strength
• Non-corrosive
• Economical
 MATERIAL FOR HEATING ELEMENTS
• The selection of a material for heating element is depending upon
the service conditions such as maximum operating temperature
and the amount of charge to be heated
• but no single element will not satisfy all the requirements of the
heating elements.
• The materials normally used as heating elements are either alloys
of nickel–chromium, nickel–chromium–iron, nickel– chromium–
aluminum, or nickel–copper.
• Nickel–chromium–iron alloy is cheaper when compared to simple
nickel–chromium alloy.
• The use of iron in the alloy reduces the cost of final product but,
reduces the life of the alloy, as it gets oxidized soon.
• We have different types of alloys for heating elements. Table 4.1
gives the relevant properties of some of the commercial heating
elements.
 CAUSES OF FAILURE OF HEATING
ELEMENTS
• Heating element may fail due to any one of
the following reasons.
• 1. Formation of hot spots.
• 2. Oxidation of the element and intermittency
of operation.
• 3. Embrittlement caused by gain growth.
• 4. Contamination and corrosion
 Resistance Heating
Properties of materials
High specific resistance
High melting points
Low / positive temperature coefficient
High mech strength etc
Materials
Ni-Cr suitable for 11500 C
Ni-Cr -Fe suitable for 8500 C
Silicon Carbide for 11500 C
 Temperature Control OF Resistance
Furnace
• Energy Loss for time t=I2 R*t =t*V2 / R
• Voltage / time /Resistance
• Supply system –single phase /3 phase
• Maximum operating voltage is limited by
insulation at high temperature
 Efficiency
• Beside heat required to raise temperature of
the Charge( mct ) m is mass of charge
• heat required to raise the temperature of
furnace or oven ( m1ct) –( not considered
the continuously heated oven)-m1 is mass of
oven
• Heat conducted through walls
• Heat loss from door
• henece Efficiency can be calculated
 Design of Heating Wire
• We have
Hrad = 5.7x10-8 EA [( Ts)4 -( Ta)4 ] ; [Prad] = [watts]
At steady state
If P is power supply = Hrad =V2 /R , R=l/a
l/d2 = V2 /4P……….(1)
H is dissipated by radiation per unit area per sec
Heat radiated per second = dlH= V2 /R
Hence d/l2 =4H/ V2 ………(2)
From eq 1 and 2 l and d can be calculated
 Problem
A 4.5-kW, 200-V, and 1-φ resistance oven is to have
nichrome wire heating elements. If the wire
temperature is to be 1,000°C and that of the charge
500°C. Estimate the diameter and length of the wire.
The resistivy of the nichrome alloy is 42.5 μΩ-m.
Assume the radiating efficiency and the emissivity of
the element as 1.0 and 0.9, respectively.
Solution:
Given data
Power input (P) = 4.5 kW
Supply voltage (V) = 200 V
Temperature of the source (T1) = 1,000 + 273 = 1,273 K.
Temperature of the charge T2 = 500 + 273= 773 K.
According to
• Example 4.2: A20-kW, 230-V, and single-phase
resistance oven employs nickel—chrome strip
25-mm thick is used, for its heating elements. If
the wire temperature is not to exceed 1,200°C
and the temperature of the charge is to be 700°C.
Calculate the width and length of the wire.
Assume the radiating efficiency as 0.6 and
emissivity as 0.9. Determine also the temperature
ofthe wire when the charge is cold.
• Solution:
• Power supplied, P = 20 × 103 W.
• Let ‘w’ be the width in meters, t be the thickness
in meters, and ‘l’ be the length also in meters.
P=H×S
= H × 2 lw (S = surface area of strip = 2lw)

l = 7.435 m.
When the charge is cold, it would be at normal temperature, say
25°C.
Direct resistance heating
Indirect resistance heating
 Resistance Oven
• According to the operating temperatures, the resistance
furnaces may be classified into various types.
• Low-temperature heating chamber with the provision for
ventilation is called as oven. For drying varnish coating, the
hardening of synthetic materials, and commercial and
domestic heating, etc.,
• the resistance ovens are employed. The operating
temperature of medium temperature furnaces is between
300°C and 1,050°C. These are employed for the melting of
nonferrous metals, stove (annealing), etc.
• Furnaces operating at temperature between 1,050°C and
• 1,350°C are known as high-temperature furnaces. These
furnaces are employed for hardening applications.
Resistance oven consists of a heating chamber in which heating elements are
placed as shown in the Fig above . The inner surface of the heating chamber is
made to suit the character of the charge and the type of furnace or oven. The
type of insulation used for heating chamber is determined by the maximum
temperature of the heating chamber.
Efficiency and losses of resistance ovens
• The heat produced in the heating elements,
not only raises the temperature of the charge
to desired value, but also used to overcome
the losses occurring due to:
• Heat used in raising the temperature of oven
(or) furnace.
• Heat used in raising the temperature of
containers (or) carriers,
• Heat conducted through the walls.
• Heat loss due to the opening of oven door.
Cont..
• The heat required to raise the temperature of oven to desired value
can be calculated by knowing the mass of refractory material (M),
its specific heat (S), and raise of temperature (ΔT) and is given by:
• Hoven = MSΔTJ.
• In case the oven is continuously used, this loss becomes negligible.
• Heat used in rising the temperature of containers (or) carriers can be
calculated exactly the same way as for oven (or) furnaces.
• Heat loss conducted through the walls of the container can be
calculated by knowing the area of the container (A) in square
meters, the thickness of the walls (t) in meters, the inside and out
side
• temperatures of the container T1 and T2 in °C, respectively, and the
thermal conductivity of the container walls ‘‘k’ in m3/°C/hr and is
given by: Heat loss by conduction
Cont.
• Actually, there is no specific formula for the determination of loss
occurring due to the opening of door for the periodic inspection of
the charge so that this loss may be approximately taken as 0.58–
1.15 MJ/m2 of the door area, if the door is opened for a period of
20–30 sec.
• The efficiency of the oven is defined as the ratio of the heat
required to raise the temperature of the charge to the desired
value to the heat required to raise the charge and losses.

• The efficiency of the resistance oven lies in between 60% and

80%.
 Infrared or radiant heating
• the heat transfer takes place from the source
to the body to be heated through radiation
• for low and medium temperature applications
• The radiant heating is mainly used for drying
enamel or painted surfaces
TEMPERATURE CONTROL OF RESISTANCE HEATING
• Changing the resistance of elements.
• Changing the applied voltage to the elements (or)
current passing through the elements.
• Changing the ratio of the on-and-off times of the
supply.
• Voltage across the furnace can be controlled by
changing the transformer tapings.
• Auto transformer or induction regulator can also be
used for variable voltage supply
• An on-off switch can be employed to control the
temperature. The time for which the oven is connected
to the supply and the time for which it is disconnected
from supply will determine the temperature.
 Arc Heating
• On the application of HV medium between
electrode ionized arc is formed
• Carbon / graphite electrode -3000 to 35000 C
• HV can be generated from step transformer

Direct ARC heating Indirect Direct ARC heating

• Example 4.6: Calculate the time taken to melt
5 ton of steel in three-phase arc furnace
having the following data.
• Current = 8,000 A Resistance = 0.003 Ω
• Arc voltage = 50 V Reactance = 0.005 Ω
• Latent heat = 8.89 kcal/kg Specific heat = 0.12
• Initial temperature = 18°C
• Melting point = 1,370°C
• The overall efficiency is 50%. Find also the
power factor and the electrical efficiency of
the furnace.
 Solution

• Arc resistance /phase =50/8000= 0.00625 Ω.

• Drop due to the resistance of transformer, IRt = 8,000 × 0.003 = 24 V
• Drop due to the reactance, I Xt = 8,000 × 0.005 = 40 V.
The amount of heat required per kg of steel:
= Specific heat × (t2 - t1) + latent heat
= 0.12 × (1,370-18) + 8.89
= 171.13 kcal.
• Example 4.7: A 100-kW Ajax Wyatt furnace
works at a secondary voltage of 12 V at
power factor 0.6 when fully charged. If the
reactance presented by the charge remains
constant but the resistance varies invert as the
charge depth in the furnace; calculate the
charge depth that produces maximum heating
effect when the furnace is fully charged.
• Solution:
• Secondary power, P = V2I2 cos φ
Let ‘H’ be the height of the crucible when the crucible is full of charge and ‘Hm’ be the
height of the charge at which maximum heating effect is possible.
Given that the height of the charge is inversely proportional to the resistance. Let ‘Rm’
be the maximum resistance at which maximum heating effect will be possible.
At Rm = X2, the heat produced will be maximum.
 HIGH-FREQUENCY HEATING
• The high-frequency heating can be applied to two
types of materials.
• The heating of the conducting materials, such as ferro-
magnetic and non-ferro-magnetic, is known as
induction heating.
• The process of heating of the insulating materials is
known as dielectric heating.
• The heat transfer by the conventional method is very
low of the order of 0.5–20 W/sq. cm.
• And, the heat transfer rate by the high-frequency
heating either by induction or by dielectric heating is as
much as 10,000 W/sq. cm. Thus, the high-frequency
heating is most importance for tremendous speed of
production.
 INDUCTION HEATING
• The induction heating process makes use of the
currents induced by the electromagnetic action in
the material to be heated.
• To develop sufficient amount of heat, the
resistance of the material must be low , which is
possible only with the metals,
• the voltage must be higher, which can be
obtained by employing higher flux and higher
frequency.
• Therefore, the magnetic materials can be heated
than non-magnetic materials due to their high
permeability.
Heat developed in the disc is depending
upon the following factors.
o Primary coil current.
o The number of the turns of the coil.
o Supply frequency.
o The magnetic coupling between the coil
and the disc.
o The high electrical resistivity of the disc.
• If the charge to be heated is non-magnetic, then the heat
developed is due to eddy current loss, whereas if it is
magnetic material, there will be hysteresis loss in addition to
eddy current loss. Both hysteresis and eddy current loss are
depended upon frequency, but at high-frequency hysteresis,
loss is very small as compared to eddy currents.
• The depth of penetration of induced currents into the disc is
given by:

• where ρ is the specific resistance in Ω-cm, f is the frequency in

Hz, and μ is the permeability ofthe charge.
 types of induction furnaces
• Core type or low-frequency induction furnace.
• Coreless type or high-frequency induction
furnace.
• Core type furnace
• The operating principle of the core type furnace
is the electromagnetic induction. This furnace is
operating just like a transformer.
• It is further classified as:
• 1. Direct core type.
• 2. Vertical core type.
• 3. Indirect core type.
• Example 4.8: Determine the amount of energy
required to melt 2 ton of zinc in 1 hr, if it
operates at an efficiency of 70% specific heat of
zinc is equals to 0.1. The latent heat of zinc =
26.67 kcal/kg, the melting point is 480°C, and the
initial temperature is 25°C.
• Solution:
Weight of zinc = 2 × 1,000 = 2,000 kg.
The heat required raising the temperature from
25°C to 480°C:
H = w × S × (t2 - t1)= 2,000 × 0.1 × (480-25) =
91,000 kcal.
• The heat required for melting:= w × l= 2,000 ×
26.67 = 53,340
 DIELECTRIC HEATING

This gives raise to an electric dipole moment equal to P = q d, where d is the

distance between the two centers and q is the charge on the nucleus.
Now, the atom is said to be polarized atom. If we apply alternating voltage
across the capacitor plate, we will get alternating electric field.
 Cont…
Electric dipoles will also try to change their orientation according to the
direction of the impressed electric field. In doing so, some energy will be
wasted as inter-atomic friction, which is called dielectric loss.
As there is no perfect conductor, so there is no perfect insulator. All the
dielectric materials can be represented by a parallel combination of a leakage
resistor ‘R’ and a capacitor ‘C’
where ‘V' is the applied voltage in volts, ‘f’ is the supply frequency in Hz, ɛ0 is
the absolute permittivity of the medium = 8.854 × 10-12 F/m, ɛr is the relative
permittivity of the medium = 1 for free space, A is the area of the plate or
electrode (m2), d is the thickness of the dielectric medium, and δ is the loss
angle in radian.
The advantages of the dielectric heating

• The heating of the non-conducting materials is

very rapid.
• The uniform heating of material is possible.
• Heat is produced in the whole mass of the
material.
The applications of the dielectric heating
• The drying of paper, wood, etc. / The gluing of wood.
• The heat-sealing of plastic sheets.
• The heating for the general processing such as coffee
roasting and chocolate industry.
• The heating for the dehydration such as milk, cream, and
vegetables.
• The preparation of thermoplastic resins.\
• The heating of bones and tissues.
• Diathermy, i.e., the heat treatment for certain body
pains and diseases, etc.\
• The sterilization of absorbent cotton, bandages, etc.\
• The processing of rubber, synthetic materials, chemicals,
etc.
• Example 4.12: A piece of insulating material
is to be heated by dielectric heating. The size
of the piece is 10 × 10 × 3 cm3. A frequency of
30 mega cycles is used and the power
absorbed is 400 W. Determine the voltage
necessary for heating and the current that
flows in the material.The material has a
permittivity of 5 and a power factor of 0.05.
 Electric Welding
• Welding is the process of joining two pieces of metal or
non-metal together by heating them to their melting point.
Filler metal may or may not be used to join two pieces.
• The physical and mechanical properties of a material to be
welded such as melting temperature, density, thermal
conductivity, and tensile strength take an important role in
welding.
• Depending upon how the heat applied is created; we get
different types of welding such as thermal welding, gas
welding, and electric welding.
• Here in this chapter, we will discuss only about the electric
welding and some introduction to other modern welding
techniques.
• Welding is nowadays extensively used in automobile
industry, pipe-line fabrication in thermal power plants,
machine repair work, machine frames, etc.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF WELDING
• Some of the advantages of welding are:
– Welding is the most economical method to permanently join
two metal parts.
– It provides design flexibility.
– Welding equipment is not so costly.
– It joins all the commercial metals.
– Both similar and dissimilar metals can be joined by welding.
– Portable welding equipment are available.
• Some of the disadvantages of welding are:
– Welding gives out harmful radiations and fumes.
– Welding needs internal inspection.
– If welding is not done carefully, it may result in the distortion of
work piece.
– Skilled welding is necessary to produce good welding.
Classification of welding