Uniform thermal conditions on 3-D object: Optimal power estimation of panel heaters in a 3-D radiant enclosure

Abstract

The present study deals with an estimation of the optimum powers of the panel heaters that produces uniform thermal conditions over a 3-D design object placed inside a 3-D radiant enclosure. Radiation element method by ray emission model (REM 2) has been used to calculate the radiative information. The objective function has been minimized using the micro-genetic algorithm (MGA). To investigate the effect of the enclosure height on the optimal heater power setting, the problem has been investigated for four different aspect ratios. For the given heat flux or temperature distribution on the design object, the user has the choice to select heaters of varying power ranges, and in the present work, the validity of this formulation has been exemplified by selecting different power ranges of the heaters. The effect of specular reflections from the refractory walls and heater surfaces has also been accounted. For the desired uniform thermal conditions on the 3-D design object, the powers of the panel heaters have been accurately estimated using the REM 2 and the MGA.