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To provide a selective bibliography for researchers and graduate students who have an interest in induction processes applied to the electromagnetic processing of materials.

The objective is to provide references that identify seminal, early work, and references that represent the current state of the art. References are listed in categories that cover the broad range of induction modeling and application issues.

A brief overview of the key areas in induction processing of materials is provided, but greater emphasis and space is devoted to the references provided.

The middle years of each topic area are not covered.

A very comprehensive coverage of material is provided to those with an interest in induction processing of materials.

This paper fulfils an identified information/resources need.

Nowadays, various software is available for simulating physical processes in induction heating. The software is often limited in its ability to simulate the billet movement, sometimes assuming uniform distribution of voltages on the inductor winding, uniformity of the physical properties of the billet, etc. The mathematical model of moving cylindrical ferromagnetic billets described in this paper takes into account the billet's movement, the billet phase heterogeneity and the nonuniformity of the supply voltage distribution in the inductor turns. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The research methodology is based on FEM analysis of the coupled problem, including the electromagnetic and thermal boundary problem with additional algebraic equations, using Comsol 3.5a software.

The electromagnetic and temperature field in the billet and the voltage distribution on the winding turns have been calculated. The phase distribution in the billet has been predicted. Significant interaction of the nonuniformity of the supply voltage distribution, the billet's movement, the billet phase heterogeneity and side effect on the ends of the inductor have been shown.

The results received can be used for designing the induction heating unit for moving cylindrical billets made from ferromagnetic material and improving their characteristics.

Investigation of moving cylindrical ferromagnetic billets induction heating can be done by numerical solving the coupled problem including the electromagnetic and thermal boundary problem with additional algebraic equations for the supply voltage distribution.

Pulsating torques cause a number of problems in electrical machines, including mechanical vibrations, acoustic noise and the depreciation of mechanical equipment. In induction motors, the slot skewing method is an effective way to solve these issues; however, it has some drawbacks such as output torque drop, stray loss intensification due to inter-bar currents and iron loss increment. Besides, slot skewing may not be practical in higher-rated induction motors. In this regard, this paper introduces a modified non-skewed rotor (MNSR) structure as a possible alternative to the skewed designs.

The proposed structure includes a two-segmented rotor with an intermediate ring between the rotor parts that are mounted on the shaft with a relative shift angle. Detailed information about the idea and structure of the MNSR as well as its manufacturing aspects will be presented in the second section of the paper. First, the working principle of the proposed design is described via analytical equations to provide an insight into the concept. The shifting angle will then be calculated by analyzing the harmonic contents of the electromagnetic torque. Finally, the validity of the analytical method will be verified by developing three-dimensional finite element models.

It is demonstrated that by using the proposed rotor structure, the torque ripple has been reduced to a satisfactory level without significantly affecting the mean torque, unlike the skewing method. Furthermore, the new method could avoid the disadvantages of the skewing method while enhancing other motor characteristics such as iron loss. Also, the total volume of the MNSR is equal to the initial design, and the mass and material differences are also negligible.

In this paper, a MNSR is introduced as a possible alternative to the skewed patterns. The study mainly focused on electromagnetic torque profile characteristics, i.e. the mean torque enhancement and the ripple reduction. The MNSR structure can be used for general purposes and high-performance applications, especially where excellent torque characteristics are required.

To design an optimal active shield for the mitigation of the magnetic stray field around an induction heating device.

The active shield consists of several compensation coils in series and generates a counter field opposite to the main field. One extra compensation winding – the “generating compensation winding” (GCW) – is positioned close to the excitation coil and works as the secondary winding of a transformer. The power in this winding is used to drive the other compensation coils (the active shield), which are the load of the transformer. A circuit with passive components is inserted between the GCW and the other compensation coils. The shield is optimal if it achieves a high field reduction, while the energy dissipation is low. By using a genetic algorithm (GA) that minimizes an objective function, the optimization algorithm finds the optimal geometry and the optimal current for the GCW and the other compensation coils. The objective function uses time harmonic and axisymmetric finite element calculations.

The transformer driven active shield reduces the magnetic field effectively. It is cheap and easy to build, but it works well only for one frequency.

The shield is sensitive to tuning of the passive circuit and to changes in the frequency of the induction heater.

This transformer driven shield is an alternative for the classical active shield with external power supply.

An active shield that does not need an external power supply is a cheap solution for the shielding of magnetic fields.

Effect of unstable “wavy” temperature distribution on the part surface during the process of induction heating of ferromagnetic materials was observed and reported by two Russian scientists in 1940 (Babat and Lozinskii, 1940). They reported that under certain conditions, one can observe periodical or quasi-periodical bright stripes on the part surface when its temperature passes through the Curie point. In time, these stripes expand and merge, forming a normal temperature pattern. They called this phenomenon “polosatiy nagrev” (striation heating). Let us call it the “zebra effect” for simplicity. It can exist for a relatively long time, from several seconds to several tens of seconds. Several explanations of the zebra effect were proposed with not very convincing arguments. The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of this effect.

Wider spreading of induction technology and use of computer simulation of induction processes create a demand and open new possibilities for study of the zebra effect. This study provides an overview of the available information about the zebra effect and gives new explanation of this phenomenon based on existing experimental data and new results of simulation. Conditions for zebra occurrence and its technological importance or limitations are discussed.

Computer simulation using the Flux 2D program allows to demonstrate the striation (zebra) effect that can appear in the process of heating magnetic materials and reproduce main experimental findings related to this effect. Simulation provides a great opportunity to investigate the zebra phenomenon in virtual reality, providing qualitatively correct results. Results of simulation show that the zebra effect can appear in a relatively narrow range of material properties and operating conditions. The main factor is a big enough gradient of permeability near the Curie point. At present, it is difficult to expect high quantitative accuracy of simulation due to multiple assumptions in simulation algorithms and insufficient or inaccurate information about the material properties near the Curie point.

Several explanations of the zebra effect were proposed with not very convincing arguments. There were concerns that the zebra effect could set significant limits on the use of induction heating for surface hardening due to non-uniform temperature distribution along the part (Babat and Lozinskii, 1940; Babat, 1965; Lozinskii, 1949, 1969). However, it did not happen. There were no complaints from scientists or practitioners regarding any negative effect of the zebra phenomenon. Moreover, the authors of this paper did not find any original publications on this issue for more than half a century. Only few old induction experts confirm that they observed the zebra effect or something similar, whereas a great majority of induction community members never heard about it.

This work proposes a method to improve the estimation performance at standstill and low speed operations of an adaptive fuzzy logic speed‐sensorless field‐oriented control of an induction motor.

First, the speed estimation algorithm presented in Tursini et al., which it has been designed to consider constant speed operation, is modified in an attempt to reduce the estimation error. Second, the speed regulation by fuzzy logic controller (FLC) with fuzzy adapted gains (FAG) is proposed for speed regulation. The main features of the proposed algorithm are investigated and compared with those of the algorithm of (Tursini) considering different dynamic operating conditions.

Simulation results clearly show the performance of the proposed algorithm.

The proposed scheme is recommended for applications requiring robust speed control and field‐orientation even in the presence of some key parameter deviations.

This paper aims to design an optimum vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) and assess its techno-economic performance for wind energy harvesting at high-speed railway in Malaysia.

This project adopted AutoCAD and ANSYS modeling tools to design and optimize the blade of the turbine. The site selected has a railway of 30 km with six stops. The vertical turbines are placed 1 m apart from each other considering the optimum tip speed ratio. The power produced and net present value had been analyzed to evaluate its techno-economic viability.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 0020 blade has been carried out. For a turbine with wind speed of 50 m/s and swept area of 8 m², the power generated is 245 kW. For eight trains that operate for 19 h/day with an interval of 30 min in nonpeak hours and 15 min in peak hours, total energy generated is 66 MWh/day. The average cost saved by the train stations is RM 16.7 mil/year with battery charging capacity of 12 h/day.

Wind energy harvesting is not commonly used in Malaysia due to its low wind speed ranging from 1.5 to 4.5 m/s. Conventional wind turbine requires a minimum cut-in wind speed of 11 m/s to overcome the inertia and starts generating power. Hence, this paper proposes an optimum design of VAWT to harvest an unconventional untapped wind sources from railway. The research finding complements the alternate energy harvesting technologies which can serve as reference for countries which experienced similar geographic constraints.

To perform studies and comparisons on the electromagnetic band‐gap (EBG) structures, which are constructed by using a combination of inductive and capacitive elements printed on guided‐wave transmission lines, and by applying a chirping‐and‐tapering technique.

An in‐house solver based on finite‐difference time‐domain (FDTD) method is adopted for analysis. Conventionally, EBG characteristics are formed by a series of perforations, considered as capacitive elements, on the ground plane(s). To enhance the performance, an additional inductive element is implemented, which is realized by narrowing the strip over the respective perforated regions. For further enhancement, a chirping‐and‐tapering technique is applied on the combined EBG structures for comparisons.

Through scattering parameter analysis, it was found that the EBG structures using combined inductive and capacitive elements exhibit a band‐gap behavior superior to the ones built with only inductive or capacitive elements. In another set of comparisons, the modified EBG structures combined with a chirping‐and‐tapering technique resulted in further widening of band‐gap, as well as lower side‐lobes and a smoother transition towards the band‐gap region.

Research was mainly limited to studying solely the EBG structures printed on guided‐wave transmission lines.

The proposed EBG structures may be applied into various areas, such as microelectronics and mobile communications for harmonic suppressions, and into other practical electronic circuit structures.

The ideas on applying combined inductive and capacitive elements on various guided‐wave transmission lines to induce EBG characteristics, together with applications of a chirping‐and‐tapering technique on the combined EBG structures give rise to the research originality.

Despite the fact that there being a large literature on simulation, there is as yet no generic paradigm or architecture to develop a three-dimensional (3-D) simulator which depends on autonomous intelligent objects. This has motivated us to introduce a 3-D simulation system based on intelligent objects for Physics Experimentation. We formulated the system’s components as an object-orientation model. So, the entities in every experiment’s work cell are modeled by characterizing their properties and functions into classes and objects of the system hierarchy. Intelligent objects are realized by developing a knowledge base (KB) that captures a set of rules/algorithms that operate on 3-D objects. Rules fall into two categories: action and property rules. In the simulation layer, the student is allowed, by using the virtual system, to stroll throughout the Physics laboratory in light of a walking model. Student gets to a simulation region to do an experiment through the detection of mathematical collision. From software engineering perspective, the proposed system facilitates the Physics experiment through making the specification of its applicable parts more modular and reusable. Moreover, a major pedagogical objective is achieved by permitting the student tuning parameters, fixing component of a device then visualizing outputs. This provides student well interpretation by viewing how distinct parameters affect the outcomes of the experiment. With the objective of student performance measuring, we utilized an exploratory group relying upon pre- and post-testing. The application results demonstrate that the simulator contributes positively to student performance in regard to practical Physics.