Development and Test of One Commercial Megawatt Superconducting DC Induction Heater With Extra High Energy Efficiency

Energy conservation and emission reduction is a critical task for China’s aluminum industry. During the last decade, the high temperature superconducting (HTS) technology has been successfully demonstrated to have great potential for energy conservation in this field. Different from the present AC induction heater, this HTS direct current (DC) induction heater is expected to significantly improve the energy efficiency of preheating aluminium billets before extrusion process. This paper thoroughly presents the development of the world’s first commercial megawatt HTS DC inducting heater based on 2nd generation HTS tapes. Firstly, the commercial design of this 1MW HTS DC induction heater including design specifications, energy efficiency and commercial potential are analyzed carefully. Subsequently, the manufacture and operation of three core parts including HTS magnet with extra-large diameter, iron core structure and electrical driving system, are introduced. A low cost and practical driving system consisting of motors and gearboxes is developed to solve the problem of peak electromagnetic torque at low rotation. Meanwhile, the heating quality of aluminium billets (i.e., temperature distribution along the radial and axial direction) can be accurately controlled by an adjustable air gap structure. Finally, the present technique challenges and corresponding solutions of this commercial HTS DC induction heaters are summarized and proposed. Compared with an energy efficiency of 45-60% in the MW-class conventional heater, the energy efficiency of this HTS DC induction heater can achieve up to 80.6% based on test results. This work can also provide guidance for the design and optimization of HTS DC induction heaters.