2D example: Induction heating tutorial

Foreword

This paragraph is a summary of cases treated in detail in the 2D example: "Induction heating tutorial".

Study carried out

The study proposed in the “2D Induction heating tutorial” is the study of the induction heating of a steel billet.

Studied device

The studied device, shown in the figure below, contains the following components:

  • an inductor that generates the source field: the inductor is a coil containing 6 copper tubes, supplied by a sinusoidal voltage source
  • a charge corresponding to the heated component: a cylindrical steel billet

  • a magnetic core for magnetic flux shunting (flux concentrator)

Treated cases

The simulations depicted in the tutorial are presented as four case studies:

  • case 1: study about the influence of the frequency and voltage supply values on the electric parameters of the device
  • case 2: study of the induction heating of the billet with simplifying hypotheses
  • case 3: study of billet induction heating without simplifying hypotheses
  • case 4: study of the billet cooling after induction heating

Case 1

The first case is a steady state AC magnetic application for the study of the electric characteristics of the device:

It is about a parametric analysis of the power and current with respect to the inductor terminals for different values of the frequency and voltage supply.

Case 2

The second case is a steady state AC magnetic coupled with transient thermal application for the study of the induction heating process of the billet:

It is about a study carried out with the following simplifying hypotheses:

  • non linear approximation for the B(H) characteristic of the magnetic materials;
  • material properties independent on temperature

Case 3

The third case is a steady state AC magnetic coupled with transient thermal application for the study of the induction heating process of the billet:

It is about a study carried out without the previous simplifying hypotheses, i.e.:

  • nonlinear B(H) characteristic for the magnetic materials;
  • material properties dependent on temperature

Case 4

The fourth case is a thermal transient application studying the cooling process of the billet after the induction heating process corresponding to Case 3