Induction heating is a non-contact method of heating for electric conductive parts that can absorb energy from an alternating magnetic field. The magnetic field is usually created through a coil surrounding the workpiece. The alternating magnetic fieldinduces eddy currents in the part which are dissipated into heat. This heating method because of its speed, accuracy and control capability is very useful for manufacturing industries and also has high efficiency compared to other methods. Induction heating is used for melting, hardening, heat treatment and welding metal parts. In this thesis, the induction heating process was simulated using ANSYS commercial finite element package. To ensure the accuracy of the results of computer simulations, some experimental tests were conducted for a few parts. Thus, an induction hardening machine with a power of 55 kW and a frequency of 66 kHz was used.In order to heat up the parts, a number of copper induction coils were built and connected to the induction hardening machine. A thermography camera was used to measure the surface temperature and obtain the heat distribution of workpiece.Thermography camera used was able to continuously measure the temperature from zero to 1500 degrees Celsius. A comparison between the simulation and experimental results revealed that the two sets of results are in good agreement. The effects of various process parameters on the distribution of workpiece temperature were also studied. These parameters include the coil cross-section, the coil-workpiece gap, workpiece hole. The results showed that the cross section of induction coil had a considerable effect on the efficiency of the induction heating process. According to the results, assuming a uniform gap distance, rectangular and triangular shaped induction coils had the highest thermal efficiency and circular shaped induction coil, which is commonly used in the industry, had the lowest thermal efficiency. One of the main causes of non-uniform heating of cylindrical part is due to the presence of holes. According to the results, a large amount of heat is generated around the hole as the hole diameter increases. Also, by decreasing the distance between the hole and the workpiece edge, a more heat is generated in the part. Keywords : Induction heating , induction hardened , induction coil , magnetic flux concentrator , ANSYS software
