Thermal analysis of an eddy‐current heated piece by means of the FEM‐DBCI method

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose a hybrid method, called finite element method‐Dirichlet boundary condition iteration (FEM‐DBCI), for the computation of time‐harmonic eddy current problems inside a conductor heated by coils in 3D open‐boundary geometry.

Design/methodology/approach

The method assumes the electrical field as unknown on a mesh of tetrahedral edge elements. The heating power density inside the conductor is then computed and a steady‐state thermal analysis is performed on the same mesh of nodal tetrahedra to calculate the temperature distribution inside the heated piece, taking radiation and convection into account. A numerical example is also provided.

Findings

The method couples a differential equation for the interior problem in terms of the electric fields with an integral equation for the exterior one. The global algebraic system is efficiently solved in an iterative way.

Originality/value

The paper illustrates the computation of time‐harmonic eddy current problems inside a conductor heated by coils.

Citation

Aiello, G., Alfonzetti, S., Dilettoso, E. and Salerno, N. (2008), "Thermal analysis of an eddy‐current heated piece by means of the FEM‐DBCI method", COMPEL - The international journal for computation and mathematics in electrical and electronic engineering, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 427-435. https://doi.org/10.1108/03321640810847715