Experimental validation of coupled electromagnetic thermal FEM model of transverse flux heaters

The design of a transverse flux induction heater requires the solution of a coupled electromagnetic and thermal numerical model. In order to validate a finite element 3D model, where a novel formulation based on edge elements have been used for the electromagnetic solution, some comparisons are presented between experimental temperature distributions and calculated data. The temperature distributions in a stainless steel strip, heated in a laboratory transverse flux inductor prototype, have been measured by means of an infrared camera and compared with the computed temperature field. The results of comparison have demonstrated the reliability of the numerical model.