August 2009

Induction Furnaces have again been selected to replace Arc  Furnaces to melt Steel

After an exhaustive analysis of the performance and efficiency between ELECTRIC ARC FURNACES and Inductotherm’s INDUCTION FURNACES, PT The Master Steel Company, Indonesia, has placed an order with Inductotherm Australia.

The large order is for Eight VIP Power-Traks a totalling of 102 MW connected to Sixteen Furnaces.

 

Five units are 15,000 kW VIP Power-Traks each connected to two 25 tonne coreless induction furnaces.

Three units are 9,000 kW VIP Power-Traks each connected to two 15 tonne coreless induction furnaces

 

This is not a step PT Master Steel has taken lightly, of the 4 plants they have, 3 plants will change to Induction melting.

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30th June 2010

Latrobe Specialty Steel Expansion Project Awarded Multiple Awards

 

Consarc Corp., an Inductotherm Group company, worked with Latrobe Specialty Steel and Continental Design Management Group to produce the world's largest Vacuum Induction Melting (VIM) furnace in record time, using a modified design-and-build technique. 

This project was awarded the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) 2009 Project Excellence Award as well as the inaugural 2010 American Metal Market Award for Excellence for Best Operational Improvement.

Consarc, who was responsible for the manufacturing and installation of Latrobe's new Consarc VIM system, maintained an aggressive schedule starting in December 2007 that put liquid metal in the VIM system in September 2008. 

Consarc's VIM furnace met the increasing demand in the aerospace and defense markets for premium vacuum-melted steel according to Latrobe Specialty Steel.

The induction melting equipment was supplied by Inductotherm Corp., another Inductotherm Group company. This system included two (2) 30,000 kg and one (1) 20,000 kg interchangeable quick change induction furnace shells. These furnaces are powered by a 5000 kW VIP® induction power supply, making this one of the highest installed vacuum power density applications in the world.

Along with the vacuum induction melting furnaces, Consarc also delivered three additional vacuum arc remelting furnaces, all part of this US$62M expansion project.

Latrobe Specialty Steel produces and sells worldwide VIM-VAR steel for numerous critical aerospace, defense, power generation and oil and gas exploration applications.

Consarc designs and manufactures furnaces and related systems for vacuum induction melting (VIM), vacuum arc remelting (VAR), electroslag remelting (ESR), vacuum precision investment casting (VPIC), induction skull melting (ISM), solar silicon melting furnaces, as well as specialty furnaces for proprietary processes.

Inductotherm designs and manufactures the most advanced Induction melting, Induction heating, holding and pouring systems for virtually all metal and material processing.

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210 Ton Per Hour Induction Melting Plant Competes With Arc Furnaces

The Inductotherm Furnace Group has received an order for:

Six (6) 30 ton steel capacity coreless induction furnaces, each with an 18,500 kW VIP® power supply from a customer in the Middle East.

The Inductotherm Furnace Group has received an order for six (6) 30 ton steel capacity coreless induction furnaces, each with an 18,500 kW VIP® power supply from a customer in the Middle East. When all the furnaces are on full power together, this installation will melt at the rate of 210 ton/hr – making it by far the largest induction furnace melting plant ever built with a total connected load of 111 MW.

The Inductotherm induction furnaces were preferred over arc furnaces because of their many environmental advantages. And, in fact, when all elements are correctly evaluated, the induction furnaces can melt steel at lower cost than the previous arc furnaces.

Inductotherm induction furnaces, when compared to arc furnaces, have many other advantages as well. They have much lower sound levels, greatly reduced oxidation losses, much reduced dust collection requirements, excellent temperature and chemistry control, and they present a very stable electrical load to the power network. Utility providers much prefer induction furnaces due to the unique VIP inverter design. Inductotherm is the only induction furnace supplier worldwide who, at these high power levels, can guarantee a constant high line power factor down to very low power levels – with minimum voltage notching and the lowest harmonic generation – and the Inductotherm inverter is much preferred when the power comes from a diesel powered generator.

Inductotherm has now supplied, or has on order, 37 installations worldwide of 14 MW and above, of which 26 installations are for melting steel. Some of these were supplied as multiple-output installations depending on customer specific output production requirements, since these systems can increase productivity and achieve a nearly 100% utilization rate!Many of these installations include load cells, PC-based melt shop control and management systems, fume hoods, superior push-out lining technology, charging systems, and the latest advancement, the ARMS® (Automated Robotic Melt Shop) System. In addition to induction melting furnaces, Inductotherm is also able to offer downstream of the continuous caster the necessary re-heating furnaces for the billets.