Optimizing active and passive magnetic shields in induction heating by a genetic algorithm

This paper presents a method for designing optimal passive and active shields for axisymmetric induction heaters. Such shields are needed to protect human operators and external electronic equipment from stray magnetic fields. The method uses a genetic algorithm (GA) to minimize an objective function. This function reduces the magnetic field in the target area, the power dissipation in the active and passive shields, and the influence of the shields on the heating process. The GA returns the position and height of the passive shield, the optimal current for the active shield, and the number of turns of all coils. The paper describes two optimization modes: 1) optimization of only the active shield with fixed passive shield and 2) global optimization of both active and passive shields. Several passive shields are studied: electrically conductive shields and both electrically and magnetically conductive shields. The field reduction depends on the optimization mode and the passive shield properties, but always exceeds 25 dB for combined active and passive shields. Finally, the paper compares the results of the simulations to experimental measurements.     

One-component cesium magnetometer for measuring the residual magnetic induction in ferromagnetic shields

A simple design for a miniature cesium magnetometer intended for measuring the residual magnetic induction (B ₀≤1000 nT) in ferromagnetic shields of cylindrical shape with an internal diameter ⊘≥15 mm is described. Pis’ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 25, 42–46 (May 12, 1999)     

Finite element analysis of leakage magnetic flux from an induction heating system

The finite element method is applied to calculate the leakage magnetic field from an induction heating system consisting of an exciting coil and a conducting circular plate. The basic technique of the method is to draw a mathematical sphere to enclose the system. The total energy functional is assumed to be given by the interior and exterior functionals. The former is represented by using the usual axisymmetric triangular elements. On the other hand, the latter is given in a simple form by expanding exterior fields in terms of the solutions of a differential equation governing exterior empty spaces. The interior and exterior potentials are then matched on the spherical interface. After the validity of the method is verified by comparing results with analytic solutions for a single coil, the leakage magnetic flux from an induction heating system is computed at large distances.     

Superconducting shields for alternating magnetic fields

This paper describes a shield to guard a dc superconducting field from an ac field.     

薄圆柱体高频感应温度场的测量和有限元模拟

本文利用自制的NiCr-NiAl热电偶精确地测量了薄圆柱工件端面高频感应温度场的分布;应用有限元分析软件ANSYS/Thermal对高频感应加热过程的温度场进行了模拟.热电偶测量的数据直观可信,但测取工件温度场分布费时费力;有限元分析则可较为快速获知工件各处的温度,弥补了实验工作的不足.本文研究结果显示,两种方法得出的结果具有可比性,能够相互参照.     

Analysis of perforated magnetic shields for electric power applications

The shielding performance of perforated magnetic shields for electric power applications is described. The shielding of an axisymmetric induction heating device is studied as a function of frequency, number of perforations and dimensions of the perforations. From the numerical point of view, the perforations cause the numerical model to be 3D. A numerical optimisation is carried out to find the optimal geometry with respect to the shielding factor and the volume of the shield. For the optimisation, two approaches are presented. The first approach is fast and easy-to-implement, but has limited accuracy. It uses a classical 2D axisymmetric model where the perforations are approximated by 'axisymmetric air gaps' resulting in a segmented shield. It is shown how to modify the 2D model to obtain results that are similar to the ones of a 3D model. The second approach is more accurate although quite fast, but more difficult to implement. It combines a 3D thinshell finite element model with the unmodified 2D model in a space mapping optimisation algorithm. The validation of both models is based on experimental work for an unperforated shield and for the optimised perforated shield.     

On the interaction of magnetic fields and magnetic shields

Some general mathematical expressions have been derived for the induced self and mutual inductances of the wires inside a cylindrical ferromagnetic shell. An application of these results is given. It is shown that the effect of the ferromagnetic shell on the inductances of the multiconducting wires is strongly geometry dependent; the closer the wires to the magnetic shell, the stronger the effect. For wires in the center of the cylinder, no significant result will be caused by the presence of the magnetic shell.     

The effect of shaking on magnetic shields

The increase of the shielding factor due to shaking was measured in a scale model for a magnetically shielded room. The increase was found to be 7 dB for a single-layer square cylinder biased by the Earth's magnetic field. The shielding factor of a large-volume three-layer Mumetal^®room was estimated to increase by a factor of 30, thus confirming the feasibility of shaking in magnetic shields. The shaking parameters, amplitude, and frequency are not critical according to the experiments. Winding the shaking coils along the edges of the cubic shield leads to minimum disturbances inside the cube, and the winding can also be applied to demagnetize the shield by an alternating field of 25 A/m, 50 Hz. The relative incremental permeability of Mumetal was studied as a function of the shaking and biasing fields. The permeability was found to increase considerably by shaking and by decreasing the biasing field. With zero biasing and with shaking field of Hs= 5 A/m root mean square (rms), 50 Hz, the permeability reached its maximum value of 89 000, which is sevenfold the value without shaking.     

A field-theoretical approach to magnetic induction heating of thin circular plates

A field-theoretical approach is used to analyze the subject of magnetic induction heating of thin circular plates by planar coils. Closed-form solutions for the electric and magnetic fields are found to the basic field problem of a single circular loop carrying current at a frequency ω in the presence of a plate characterized by a permeability μ and conductivity σ. By using these fields, expressions are derived for the complex Poynting vector at the surface of the plate, and for the induced EMF in the coil. The theory is extended to include multiturn coils and a field-dependent permeability, and a specific multiturn coil and plate combination is chosen as an example. The complex amplitude of the magnetic field and the Poynting vector are calculated along the surface of the plate using iterative methods to assure self-consistency with the field dependent permeability of the plate. By using Fourier transform techniques, the transient coil current and coil voltage waveforms are calculated under the experimental conditions used to take data on the sample coil and plate. The absorbed power is calculated from these waveforms and is found to be within 10 percent of the measured power absorption for all levels of operation from 50 to 2000 W. The calculated coil current waveform is compared with the measured waveform and is found to be in very good agreement in both shape and period.     

Contribution to the use of superconducting shields for magnetic field shaping

The low-field diamagnetism of superconductors has often been used to design quasi-ideal magnetic circuits, especially for traveling wave maser (TWM) magnets. An analogical approach to the calculation of the efficiency of such nonideal cylindrical superconducting shields is presented. In most cases, the problem reduces to a 2-dimensional Laplace equation with given boundary conditions. The logarithmic complex potentiallog (Bx - iBy)has been used to obtain the field homogeneity and disorientation. Partially penetrated shields may be replaced by perfect equivalent ones. The analog measurements on conducting paper permit quick iterations of the solution. Various field component measurements have been done on TWM magnets using bismuth thin film Hall probes and found to be in good agreement with the analog measurements.     

Thermal and electromagnetic parameters of a high-frequency discharge in induction heating of a gas

A procedure for determining the thermal and electrophysical parameters of an hf induction discharge burning inside a short induction heater is proposed.Kazan Technological University. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 68, No. 2, pp. 248–252, March–April, 1995.     

Thermal regimes for super-high-frequency heating of dielectrics

The features of thermal processes in a dielectric under the action of a super-high-frequency electromagnetic field are studied. It is shown that the non-linear heat evolution due to the absorption of electromagnetic energy can result at a critical temperature in the development of a nonsteady thermal regime in the sample. For bodies of different geometry, the relationship is found between the critical temperature and the threshold value of the power of super-high-frequency generation and thermophysical properties of the dielectric and conditions of heat exchange with the surrounding medium.Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 59, No. 5, pp. 853–858, November, 1990.     

Numerical analysis of high-frequency induction heating includingtemperature dependence of material characteristics

We have carried out a numerical analysis of the magnetic field on high-frequency induction heating. This analysis includes the dependence of various magnetic properties on temperature. The required characteristics are obtained experimentally. We compare the experimental results with the theoretical values obtained by approximations. Until now, the current density inside the exciting coil on this kind of problem has been assumed to be uniform, which is different from actual phenomena. We propose a new method which takes the inhomogeneous distribution of exciting current into account. In this analysis, the eddy current of the exciting coil is also taken into account     

Optimal control of an induction heating Process for thixoforming

We investigate in this paper a numerical method to control the temperature of an induction heating process through electric current parameters such as frequency and current voltage imposed to the terminals of the inductor. We consider in this paper an optimal control problem arising in an induction heating process. The control parameters are here the frequency and the voltage supply. More precisely, We seek a sinusoidal voltage function whose amplitude varies in time. For this, we use a two-dimensional induction heating model that involves a phase transition in which the magnetic field has only one nonvanishing component. The procedure can be extended to more sophisticated models without major modification of the optimal control problem. We present a numerical control algorithm and discuss numerical experiments that prove the efficiency of the procedure.     

An accurate method of calculating multilayer, multimaterial cylindrical magnetic shields

The basic concepts of shielding theory have existed since the last century [1,2]. There have been many publications on the subject of magnetic shielding, treating the case of shielding apparatus from static fields by means of multiple concentric shields and deriving several principles of fundamental importance. Unfortunately, however, theory has been applied to only the most ideal shield configurations, for the case of constant permeability [3-5]. This paper covers the analysis of shielding effectiveness of variable Permeability cylindrical shielded enclosures for the DC magnetic field case. When the permeability is a function of magnetic induction, the simple boundary solution for spherical or cylindrical shields can no longer be applied since the induction, through the permeability, is caused to vary as much as two orders of magnitude, causing nonuniformity in the field in the cavity and inside the shield. Thus, the permeability of the shielding material is considered as a function of the induction, and a significantly improved method of estimating the induction and permeability of the shield is presented. The effects of a multiple-shell geometry are treated in the equations of this analysis. This method gives fast, accurate results and can be run on a small computer for shielding optimization. Results of these magnetic field calculations allowed the selection of optimization criteria and showed how system requirements could be met by choosing a suitable shell structure arrangement. Experimental measurements on real materials for various shell structures confirmed the accuracy of this method.     

Multistep induction heating regimes for thixoforming 7075 aluminium alloy

Abstract

Thixoforming involves processing alloys with a spheroidal microstructure in the semisolid state. Commercially it is applied to conventional casting alloys, and one of the scientific challenges is to extend its application to high performance aluminium alloys such as 7075. Aluminium alloy 7075 is readily available in extruded form, and one route to a spheroidal microstructure is to reheat extruded material into the semisolid state to obtain recrystallisation, with the liquid penetrating the recrystallised boundaries. Here this route has been followed, but it has been found that the presence of pinning particles in the microstructure inhibits recrystallisation. To overcome this, a multistep induction heating regime has been developed consisting of a 1 min hold at 475-500 °C, a 1 min hold at 575-600 °C and a shorter 20 s hold for the final step at 620 °C.     

Thermal analysis of induction motors using 3D finite element method

Abstract

To design a reliable and economical induction motor, it is necessary to be able to predict accurately the temperature distribution within the motor. In this paper, a 3D thermal model of an induction motor is presented. Except for providing a more accurate representation of the problem, the proposed model can also reduce computer memory and time. The finite element method (FEM) is used to analyze the three dimensional (3D) heat flow equation which describes the thermal model. Galerkin's procedure is used to derive the element equations and first order tetrahedral elements are used to discretize the field region. Galerkin's time‐stepping scheme is employed to treat time differential terms. Values of surface heat transfer coefficients are obtained from the empirical formula and heat losses are revised by the factory test. Application of the proposed method to the analysis of a 9,000 HP induction motor yields temperature distribution very close to the experimental data.