Induction heating was around long before inverters were. I was looking at an old book the other day, and many industrial kilns were induction heated using mains frequency, usually through a transformer. Will post the title. A transformer primary/secondary RESISTANCE is ideally zero, so the energy is stored in the iron laminates. Losses in the laminates are converted to heat. Normally, the objective is to minimise these. Short out all the laminates(crucible), and it'll get hot indeed. OP mentioned big engine, assumed it is steel. At 01:51 PM 31/05/2005 -0500, you wrote: >On Tue, 31 May 2005 19:41:45, Roland wrote: >> RF? Just use mains frequency. >> >> Run a number of thick turns around it and switch on ;) > >I wonder how that would work. My inkling is that it would heat the >coil more than the part, assuming that it was current limited. I >imagine the part is fairly ferrous, though, so it would be very much >like a transformer... > >There is some used equipment (~12.5K USD) on the Ameritherm website. >It only goes down to 50kHz and delivers 3kW. > >Bradley > >-- >http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive >View/change your membership options at >http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > Regards Roland Jollivet -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist