Heat Flow and Temperature Fields in Cold Crucible Induction Melter of Vacuum Furnace

The heat-flow and temperature fields in the operating cold crucible induction melter of vacuum furnace, comprising splits, water-cooling jackets and molten metal, were empirically approximated, mathematically modeled, theoretically analyzed in fluid dynamics and liquid/sold heat transfer theories, numerically simulated in finite element method with CFX software and experimentally evaluated.The flow-field profile in the water jackets and the distributions of pressure in vacuum and temperature field in solid region were simulated.As shown by the simulated results, the cooling water flows at a fairly uniform rate, resulting in an effective cooling of the cold crucible; and no localized spot with the highest temperature and the strongest thermal stress could possibly occur, because as moving away from the crucible's core, the temperature smoothly increased with a small gradient, peaking on the wall of the cold crucible.The simulated and measured results were in good agreement.