CASE STUDIES & RESEARCH

Measured, not promised

Every number on this site traces back to instrumented production trials at working tube mills, published by Fluxtrol's research team. Three mills, three countries, three tube sizes — the same pattern.

GERMANY

Prinz & Co. GmbH Stahlrohre

15 mm OD × 1.2 mm wall steel tube · ~400 kHz · 50–150 kW · government-funded study with the German Ministry for Economic Affairs

~40%

less weld energy at identical line speed (≈25 kW saved)

>20 hr

SMC impeder life vs. 4 hr for ferrite — with little visible wear

~87 t

CO₂ avoided per year, ≈$10,000/yr electricity

≈€450k

modeled annual line savings (€90/hr at 5,000 hr/yr) — ~15% of operating cost

Small-diameter, thin-wall tube at high frequency — exactly the regime where ferrite saturates. The energy saving showed up immediately at the power supply; the impeder-life difference showed up at the end of the first shift.

SERBIA

FAHOP

21–27 mm OD × 2.6 mm wall tube · 400–500 kHz · 250 kW supply · independent analysis across multiple line speeds

30–50%

energy savings vs. ferrite, measured across line speeds

~5×

impeder life reported in production

350 t

CO₂ avoidable per year at maximum line speed

$40k

annual electricity savings at maximum speed

Heavy wall drives flux density up — the FAHOP data shows the SMC advantage widening as line speed climbs, because that's where ferrite spends more and more of its time saturated.

UNITED STATES

Kent Corporation

12.7 mm OD × 1.25 mm wall steel tube · ~400 kHz · 300 kW system

~20%

power reduction vs. ferrite

13 kW

continuous saving at the power supply

45 t

CO₂ avoided per year

$5,200

annual electricity savings on this line alone

A half-inch tube line — among the smallest impeder cross-sections in the industry, and the clearest demonstration that core material, not core size, was the constraint.

FLOW-THROUGH IMPEDER STUDY

When the goal is speed, not savings

Same headroom, spent on throughput instead of the power bill

+20%

line speed at 100 kW lower power

−45%

kWh per ton of tube produced

730 hr

production hours recovered per year

$1.35M

opportunity value of that recovered capacity

THE RESEARCH

Read the papers behind the numbers.

Published by Fluxtrol's R&D team — Robert Goldstein, Sean Muyskens, and colleagues — and presented to the induction heating and tube & pipe industries.

PERFORMANCE

Improving HF Tube Welding System Performance Using SMC Impeder Cores

The core comparison: saturation behavior, current-path physics, and the Prinz, FAHOP, and Kent production data.

Read at fluxtrol.com →

SUSTAINABILITY

Improved Sustainability of Induction Tube Welding Systems Using Soft Magnetic Composites

Energy and CO₂ accounting per line and industry-wide, including the €450k/year annual savings model.

Read at fluxtrol.com →

COOLING DESIGN

Cooling Requirements for Soft Magnetic Composite Impeders in Inductive Tube Welding Installations

The honest engineering paper: loss modeling, CFD flow analysis, and lab validation of SMC impeder cooling.

Read at fluxtrol.com →

NEXT STEP

Run one SMC impeder on your worst line.

Fluxtrol engineers will model your mill setup, design the core and its cooling, and support a production trial. The numbers on this site came from trials exactly like that.

Talk to an Engineer See the Production Results

Four SMC impeder cores of different diameters on a stainless steel table