Development of a low-emissions aluminum ingot rapid preheating device "HD Thermo IG" ~Contributing to the decarbonization of plants through high-efficiency heating~

Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (Representative Director and President: Kingo Hayashi; head office in Nagoya City, Aichi; "Chubu Electric Power"), Nihon Kohnetsu Industrial Co., Ltd. (President: Takehiro Sakai; head office in Nagoya City, Aichi; "Nihon Kohnetsu Industrial") and Yutaka Electronics Industry Co., Ltd. (President: Takeshi Morita; head office in Kariya City, Aichi; "Yutaka Electronics Industry") jointly developed "the HD Thermo IG", a rapid preheating device that can preheat aluminum ingots (Note) at a previously unheard of short amount of time in the melting process.
Nihon Kohnetsu Industrial, Yutaka Electronics Industry, and Chubu Electric Power Miraiz Co., Inc. (Representative Director: Shinya Otani; head office in Nagoya City, Aichi; "Chubu Electric Power Miraiz") will start receiving applications and inquiries today, and sell the product in spring of 2024.

(Note) A five-kg piece of pure aluminum used as raw material for aluminum products (sheet metal)

Lightweight and easily processed, aluminum is used in car parts and other industrial products—many of these products are molded and produced from aluminum ingots heated to around 700 degrees Celsius to melt in a melting furnace. This melting process, which involves a melting furnace that uses burners fueled by natural gas and heavy oil, needs to be decarbonized as Japan heads toward a decarbonized society. Another challenge identified in R&D to electrify this melting process is balancing aluminum quality with a shorter heating time.

The HD Thermo IG uses an electric heater to blow hot wind onto the aluminum ingots to heat them up before they are put into the melting furnace. The rectified and fast hot air circulates within the device to heat the aluminum ingots from room temperature to 400 degrees Celsius quickly (in as little as 25 seconds) and evenly while maintaining the quality of the aluminum ingots. The heating time is reduced to 1/10th of the time it takes to heat up an ingot using burner-generated hot air.
Because the heat efficiency of the HD Thermo IG can be as high as 85%, the amount of CO₂ emitted in heating an aluminum ingot from room temperature to 400 degrees Celsius can be up to 32% less than when using burners as a heat source, contributing to the decarbonization of aluminum processing.

Chubu Electric Power, Nihon Kohnetsu Industrial, Yutaka Electronics Industry, and Chubu Electric Power Miraiz will continue to create new value to benefit customers and contribute to the development of society through research, product development, and sales of products and services that decarbonize society and increase the productivity of plants and our customers.