Ferrite Core Application - Induction Heating

From the time we discovered fire, humans have been keen on heating things with it. It started with food, but its applications grew once new technologies came into existence. Forging swords, and making steam-powered engines, the heating effect was increasing in popularity by the decade.
However, more complex technologies underline their shortcomings. The heat from flames, while producing a high temperature, took too much time to reach that threshold. This issue was paired with inconsistent heating, as the part close to the source receives more heat.
The solution to this? Induction Heating.

What is Induction Heating?

Induction Heating is a contactless style of heating that uses the principle of electromagnetic induction to induce heat with the help of an electric current.
This method takes out most of the disadvantages of traditional heating. With the correct apparatus, one can heat the desired part (often known as the workpiece) quickly while spreading the heat uniformly throughout its surface. It's used in a wide range of applications like induction cooking, brazing of metals and sterilisation of medical equipment.

How Does Induction Heating Work?

Induction heating comprises a work coil that heats the workpiece with electromagnetic induction. When connected to a power source, an electric current passes through the work coil, which generates a magnetic field around it. As the current changes, so do the magnetic field.
When one places the workpiece near the coil, it comes inside the magnetic field, which induces eddy currents inside the workpiece. These currents flow against the resistivity of the material, generating heat because of a phenomenon known as the Joule’s effect.
This style of heating doesn’t need a connection between the coil & the workpiece. It is safer as open fire isn’t involved & disperses the heat evenly on the workpiece.

How Do Ferrite Cores Help?

Ferrite cores are cores made of ceramic compounds. They are not permanent magnets but carry magnetism when placed in a magnetic field. In the field's absence, they tend to lose magnetism, which makes them ideal to be used as transformers. They come in many shapes and sizes. One can choose between the options according to the application.
Let’s go over how ferrite cores aid the induction heating process.

• Low Impedance
  Ferrite cores have low impedance. This means that it lets electrical signals flow more easily through it, helping with the heating process.

• Lower Loss
  Ferrite cores have low coercivity, high magnetic permeability and low electrical conductivity, which amounts to relatively lower losses at high frequency. With less protection against demagnetization, these can easily change their magnetic orientation, generating a lower amount of losses while doing so.
• High Power in Small Spaces
  Ferrites cores like I core & U core offer high-quality power. These can produce reliable results and, because of the shape, can be used effectively in induction heating to fit in less space or unusual shapes.
• Lightweight
  Ferrite cores weigh less and are small. These benefits make it easy to fit them across different applications that use induction heating.

Besides these, ferrite cores act as a shield, diverging the heating field upwards so that it doesn’t affect the rest of the system. Hence, ferrite cores are ideal for increasing the efficiency of induction heating.
We at Cosmo Ferrites are a leading ferrite core manufacturer with high-quality cores such as E core, I core, U core, UR core and Toroidal cores for induction heating. Our wide range of ferrite core types is used in applications like this as well as automotive, solar and lighting. We make our products keeping quality & customer satisfaction in mind.
Click here to get in touch with our experts and know which ferrite core would suit your needs.