Boundary element application of induction heating devices with rotational symmetry

A boundary element (BE) formulation is presented for predicting the surface power density distribution for short conductors having rotational symmetry in an induction heating system. The accuracy of the solution is tested by considering the case of a short right-cylindrical conductor coaxial with an induction coil. Each sharp edge is represented by two coinciding nodes to ensure that the normal direction is well defined on the end regions. The location of the conductor w.r.t. the coil is considered, and particular attention is given to the effect of the relative positions of the conductor and coil on the end-region power distribution. Numerical results for the electromagnetic field distributions over the boundary of the conductor are presented and compared with experimental values. Curves showing the effects of the operating frequency, the conductor conductivity, and the length-to-radius ratio on the predicted total surface power are given