Innovative Methods for Optimal Design of Complex Induction Heating Processes

Abstract

Induction heating has today a wide range of applications in industrial production. Induction heating processes used for melting, through heating or heat treatment are complex processes due to coupled electromagnetic and thermal fields and nonlinear material properties. The main process parameters are the applied frequency, the heating time and the inductor geometry. The optimal design of the combination and interaction of these parameters is very complex. The paper describes different methods which were used in the past and three examples for innovative methods for the optimal design of complex induction heating processes. The first two examples are using a combination of optimization algorithms and numerical simulations, the third example is a hierarchical optimization method for the design of induction heating processes.