Using medium-frequency induction heating to apply controlled heating and slow cooling to stress-concentrated regions, it eliminates residual stress and hardened microstructure introduced by upsetting or welding operations, restores material toughness, prevents brittle fracture under demanding downhole conditions, and ensures safe service performance and fatigue life of the drill pipe.
The core heating unit employs medium-frequency induction technology with precisely adjustable heating rates, supporting both rapid temperature ramp-up and slow, uniform controlled-rate heating as required by the annealing process specification. This ensures uniform temperature distribution across the annealing zone, avoids secondary stress concentration caused by excessive thermal gradients, and guarantees thorough and stable annealing results.
Induction coils are custom-designed to match the geometric features and annealing zone length of each pipe end and weld region, enabling precise zone targeting. Localized annealing of the upset transition zone, heat-affected zone, and weld zone is achieved without impacting the performance of the remaining pipe body — offering strong process flexibility to accommodate a wide range of annealing specifications and standards.
A closed-loop infrared temperature monitoring and automatic power regulation system provides continuous real-time tracking of the annealing zone temperature, precisely controlling soaking time within the target temperature range and managing cooling rate throughout the cycle. Overheating and excessively rapid cooling are effectively prevented, ensuring that post-anneal hardness, toughness, and microstructure consistently meet API and other relevant industry standards.
The fully automated line integrates loading, positioning and clamping, induction annealing, controlled cooling, and unloading in a smoothly sequenced workflow with stable cycle times. No open flames, no fume emissions, low thermal radiation, and the absence of high-voltage hazards deliver a safe and clean working environment with significant energy savings and reliable 24-hour continuous operation.