Optimization of the Microwave-Assisted Carbothermical Reduction Process for Metals from Electric Arc Furnace Dust with Biochar

The main purpose of this work was to extract valuable metals from EAF dust with the addition of biochar, using microwaves to control and optimize the carbothermical reduction process. To achieve better microwave penetration and the most homogeneous electromagnetic heat source distribution possible in a sample, the content of EAF dust and biochar in centimeter-size spherical particles prepared by the pelletization process was considered to be radially heterogeneous. The content of EAF dust was determined experimentally and the effective permittivity, permeability, and thermal conductivity of the EAF dust as well as biochar–EAF powder mixture were determined using effective medium approximation. The microwave heating of a multilayered pellet of biochar-containing EAF dust was simulated and investigated. The influence of the distribution of the components within the pellet on the effectiveness of the microwave heating was investigated, as was the influence of the biochar conductivity. The interaction of the pellet with both plane waves in free space and with H10 mode waves in a single-mode waveguide was considered. The most optimal distribution of EAF dust and biochar within the pellet for the reduction process was determined.

Numerical Investigation on Two-Phase Flow Heat Transfer Performance and Instability with Discrete Heat Sources in Parallel Channels

With the rapid development of integrated circuit technology, the heat flux of electronic chips has been sharply improved. Therefore, heat dissipation becomes the key technology for the safety and reliability of the electronic equipment. In addition, the electronic chips are distributed discretely and used periodically in most applications. Based these problems, the characteristics of the heat transfer performance of flow boiling in parallel channels with discrete heat source distribution are investigated by a VOF model. Meanwhile, the two-phase flow instability in parallel channels with discrete heat source distribution is analyzed based on a one-dimensional homogeneous model. The results indicate that the two-phase flow pattern in discrete heat source distribution is more complicated than that in continuous heat source distribution. It is necessary to optimize the relative position of the discrete heat sources, which will affect the heat transfer performance. In addition, compared with the continuous heat source, the flow stability of discrete heat sources is better with higher and lower inlet subcooling. With a constant sum of heating power, the greater the heating power near the outlet, the better the flow stability.

Simplified surface heat source distribution for GMAW process simulation based on the EDACC principle

A simplified surface heat source for gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process simulation based on the principle of evaporation determined arc cathode coupling (EDACC) is presented. It allows for a simple implementation in any GMAW weld pool simulation and is dependent on the width of the arc, as well as the weld pool surface temperature, but it can also be applied with the temperature and iron vapor density of the plasma instead of the width of the arc, if available. While it is considered separately from the droplets, it gives the heat flux as well as the current density distribution onto the weld pool surface, which are in general not axis-symmetric. The heat source distribution is normalized and multiplied to the value of any total heat and total current and it allows to calibrate for the maximum weld pool surface temperature. For the ionization and evaporation, only iron atoms are considered, and the shielding gas is assumed as argon. The result is given in graphical form as well as in the form of easy to implement functions for a reasonable range.

Hydrodynamic and Heat Transfer Study of a Fluidized Bed by Discrete Particle Simulations

A numerical simulation study was carried out to study the combined thermal behavior and hydrodynamics of a pseudo-2D fluidized bed using a computational fluid dynamics–discrete element method (CFD-DEM). To mimic the effect of heterogeneous exothermic reactions, a constant heat source was implemented in the particle energy equation. The effects of superficial gas velocity, bed height and heat source distribution were analyzed with the aid of averaged volume fraction and temperature distributions and velocity profiles. It was found that both the gas superficial velocity and the bed aspect ratio have a profound influence on fluidization behavior and temperature distributions.

Effect of Plate Curvature on Heat Source Distribution in Induction Line Heating for Plate Forming

Line heating is an essential process in the formation of ship hull plates with a complex curvature. Electromagnetic induction heating is widely used in the line heating process. In electromagnetic induction heating, the shape of the coil and the air gap between the inductor and workpiece could influence the heat source distribution. Moreover, in the line heating process, the change of curvature of the plate will cause a change of the air gap of the inductor. Magnetic thermal coupling calculation is an effective method for simulating induction heating. This paper used the finite element method to calculate the distribution of heat sources in different initial plate curvatures and coil widths. The changes in heat source distribution and its laws were investigated. The results show that when the coil width is less than 100 mm, the effect of plate curvature on heat source distribution and strain distribution is not apparent; when the coil width is greater than 100 mm, the plate curvature has a visible effect on the heat generation distribution. In the case of a curvature increasing from 0 to 1 and a coil width equal to 220 mm, the Joule heat generation in the center of the heating area is reduced by up to 21%.

Thermal optimization of a 3-D integrated circuit

In a 3-D integrated circuit the heat source distribution has a huge effect on the temperature distribution, so an optimal heat source distribution is needed. This paper gives a numerical approach to its thermal optimization, the result can be used for 3-D integrated circuit optimal design.

The influence of heat source distribution on the space cooling load oriented to local thermal requirements

Existing studies have shown that the space cooling load oriented to local thermal requirements is significantly influenced by different heat source distributions. However, numerical methods have been mainly used in the analysis based on a fixed airflow field and ignoring the thermal plume. Here, an experiment in a chamber with mixing ventilation was conducted. The heat sources were simulated by metal barrels and an oil-filled radiator, 13 types of heat source distributions were designed and the local cooling load (LCL) was used as the evaluation index. The results show that (1) the LCL is equal to the total amount of heat sources at the steady state in a room with mixing ventilation only if the heat sources are also distributed uniformly; (2) the LCL decreases with a decrease in the intensity of heat sources, achieving a decrease rate of 47.4%–70.8% in the experiment with different intensities; (3) the LCL is 9.2%–22.3% lower than the total amount of heat sources when these are located near the exhaust diffuser or far away from the target zone; (4) owing to its smaller surface area, the LCL with an oil-filled radiator is 7% lower than that with five metal barrels.