Design of an electromagnetic induction steam generator device based on air source heat pump

Aiming at the current problems of coal-fired boilers and electromagnetic induction steam generators for environmental pollution and high energy consumption, this article combines air source heat pumps and electromagnetic induction heating technology, and at the same time carries out the structure of the condensate tank and electromagnetic induction steam generator. Redesign. Through trial production and experimentation of the prototype, the results show that compared with traditional coal-fired boilers and separate electromagnetic induction heating technology to generate steam, this device not only achieves energy saving and environmental protection, but also the stability of the steam outlet temperature and the amount of steam generated. Compared with the use of electromagnetic induction heating alone, it has increased by 20%. It can be seen that the use of air source heat pump’ electromagnetic induction heating technology to generate steam saves energy and increases the amount of steam generated.

Electromagnetic Induction Heating for Bitumen Recovery: A Case Study in Athabasca Oil Sands

This paper demonstrates how electromagnetic induction heating is used for bitumen recovery from the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta with minimal external water requirements. The paper addresses the setup requirements and the necessary parameters for this method to achieve an economic energy to oil ratio. An iterative process is followed to couple the heat rate generated by electromagnetic induction heating to the reservoir model over a defined period. The reservoir model represents a 33 meter payzone with properties for the lower McMurray formation in an area north of Fort McMurray within the Athabasca oil sands deposit. Several scenarios are extensively explored to reach the most practical and feasible setup for oil recovery. The process enables operators to monitor and control reservoir pressure and temperature, liquid production, and energy to oil ratio to maximize recovery from oil sands and heavy oil reservoirs. The results show an expected ultimate oil recovery factor of +70% with an average energy to oil ratio that is lower than the average ratio associated with steam assisted gravity drainage. It is observed that the amount of energy required by the process correlates with water saturation in the near wellbore region, higher water saturation levels are preferred for enhanced oil recovery. It is also noticed that majority of the electromagnetically induced heat rate is generated in the near wellbore region vaporizing any existing water in that region, which eventually slows down the heating process. However, water injection improves the heat convection further into the reservoir, and therefore is essential for establishing a steam chamber using this method. Nevertheless, the volume of injected water required to establish a steam chamber is comparable to the overall volume of water produced from the reservoir, and thus minimal external water is necessary in this process. Moreover, the method is emissions free because heat is generated in the reservoir using an electrically powered downhole inductor (patent pending) that transfers electromagnetic energy to heat. In conclusion, this novel method shows high potential for responsible oil recovery from oil sands and heavy oil reservoirs while meeting economic and environmental expectations. This paper presents the use of a novel clean energy technology to recover bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta. Furthermore, the technology is of high value to oil production from heavy oil reservoirs around the world and therefore provides large benefits to the energy industry.

COMSOL Simulation for Design of Induction Heating System in VULCAN Facility

The experimental facility VULCAN was setup to study the fuel-coolant interaction (FCI) phenomena in a postulated severe accident of light water reactors. The heating system is important for the facility to prepare molten material in a crucible. This article is concerned with the design of the heating system, which applies electromagnetic induction heating method. The COMSOL code was employed to simulate the induction heating characteristics of a graphite crucible under different current and frequency of the work coil (inductor). Given a frequency, the relationship between the crucible’s average temperature and the inductor’s current is obtained, which is instrumental to select the power supply of the induction heating system. Meanwhile, the skin effect of induction heating is analyzed to guide the choice of frequency and inductor of the heating system. According to the simulation results, the induction heating system of frequency 47 kHz is suitable for the experiment, with a good agreement in temperature between the measured and the predicted.

Post Underwater Wet Welding Heat Treatment by Underwater Wet Induction Heating

Wet welding procedures of Class A structural ship steels frequently fail to comply with the American Welding Society (AWS) D3.6M, Underwater Welding Code, in the maximum hardness criterion for the heat-affected zone (HAZ). The maximum hardness accepted in a welded joint is 325 HV for higher-strength steel (yield strength > 350 MPa). In multi-pass welds, this problem occurs frequently and is restricted to the HAZ of the capping passes. The HAZ of the root and filling passes are softened by the reheating promoted by their respective subsequent passes. This paper presents the results of exploratory research into postweld underwater electromagnetic induction heating. The objective of the research was to evaluate the ability of induction heating to soften the specific high-hardness HAZs in underwater conditions. The results showed that this technique could reduce the maximum HAZ hardness of low-carbon structural ship steel welds to values below 325 HV, which is the maximum accepted by AWS for Class A welds. The induction-heated zone reached a maximum depth of about 10 mm, which is considered adequate to treat the HAZ of cap-ping passes in underwater wet welds.

Numerical and experimental study of electromagnetic induction heating process for bolted flange joints

As a promising metalwork processing technology, electromagnetic induction heating (EMIH) method has been applied in dealing with bolted flange joints in turbomachinery. In this study, a 3-D finite element model of electromagnetic induction heating system for the bolted flange joint is established, and the specific governing equations are derived based on Maxwell’s principle. The alternately-coupled magneto-thermal analysis is carried out considering temperature-dependent material properties to obtain the temperature distribution, followed with the uncoupled thermal-mechanical analysis to acquire the axial stress and deformation in EMIH process. The magnetic induction intensity mainly concentrates at the inner wall region, attenuates seriously along the radial direction, and reduces to almost zero at the outer wall. Due to the skin effect, the heat transfers radially and axially outward, indicating a diamondlike-shaped development from the center to the surrounding region. The axial stress with and without initial pretension are also discussed respectively. Then the corresponding experiments are introduced and carried out to validate the reliability of numerical simulation results. By comparing the results of the center point of inner surface and outer surface, the numerical simulation is proved reliable with a 5∼10% reasonable deviation. Further, the induction heating process has been improved through the optimization method based on pattern search algorithm. By adopting the stepped input current density optimized in the study, the optimal thermal stress tends to be constant and the final heating time reduces by 20.5% in the safe range of stress.

Preparation of Ti/Al composite plates by differential temperature rolling with induction heating

In the current study, we proposed a method of differential temperature rolling with electromagnetic induction heating to prepare Ti/Al composite plates in a protective atmosphere to realize the homogeneous deformation of Ti/Al bonding rolling and improve the interfacial bonding strength of the composite plates. The temperature field required for homogeneous deformation rolling of titanium and aluminum was constructed through finite element simulation by adjusting the parameters of electromagnetic induction heating, which made a temperature difference of about 632°C between titanium and aluminum, and the temperature of each plate was relatively uniform. The induction heating experiment was designed based on the finite element simulation, and the accuracy of the simulation results was verified by the experiment. The effects of rolling temperature and reduction rate of homogeneous deformation and bonding strength of Ti/Al composite plates were studied by rolling experiments. When the heating temperature of the Ti plate is 750–850°C, and the reduction rate is 30%-48%, with the increase of rolling temperature and reduction rate of titanium, the reduction rate of Ti plate and Al plate gradually tend to be the same. When the temperature of titanium plate and aluminum plate is 850°C and 188°C, respectively, with the rolling reduction rate of 48%, the deformation rate of Ti plate and Al plate is 46.8% and 48.6%, respectively, and the bonding strength of the composite plate reaches 77MPa.