A Novel Crossed Traveling Wave Induction Heating System and Finite Element Analysis of Eddy Current and Temperature Distributions

A novel crossed traveling wave induction heating (C-TWIH) system for heating thin industrial strips is proposed and its finite element method (FEM) simulations are reported. Compared with a typical traveling wave induction heating (TWIH) device, C-TWIH has more uniform and concentrated eddy current density distributions. This is because the C-TWIH system exploits a three-phase induction heater with crossed yoke arrangement, and the magnetic fluxes generated by each phase are interacting and complementing each other to compensate for the weak magnetic areas of each phase. Temperature distribution and variation of the C-TWIH system is also characterized. The fabricated novel model has a temperature range from 251degC to 270degC and its undesired temperature non-uniformity is reduced by 43% compared with those in typical TWIH devices.