Increasing Flexibility and Throughput for the Electric Induction Heating of Bearings and Raceways

One of the most demanding components of drivetrain is the point the wheel connects to the drivetrain. The hub and spindle or inner and outer raceway are stress components that mate the road environment to the engine torque requested by the driver.

Induction Hardening roller grooves is a common method of adding wear resistance and strength to hubs and raceways. Based on the parts design, it is common that raceways exist on both in board and out board sections of the component. It's preferred for overall performance of the components that both races be induction heated simultaneously. The induction tooling design, and process methodology employed to harden the part are determined by the geometry of the part and the desired process result.

Induction tooling can be eccentrically designed to enter the bore of the race, center positioned or positioned independently to each raceway from the top and bottom. Each method has benefits such as more rapid heating time, lower current densities, and minimize distortion. The three inductor types detailed, their strengths and potential shortcomings. Specific details on heat times, coil power densities and predicted coil life are presented along the part specific hardness profile data generated by each hardening method.