Affiliations: [a] Institute of Electrotechnology, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany | [b] Department of Electrotechnology and Converter Engineering, St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University, St. Petersburg, Russia
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: B. Nacke, Institute of Electrotechnology, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wilhelm-Busch-Str. 4, D-30167 Hannover, Germany. Tel.: +49 511 762 5533; Fax: +49 511 762 3275; E-mail:[email protected]
Abstract: A distinctive feature of induction furnaces with cold
crucible is the skull melting without introducing any impurities in the melt
and overheating of the melt over 3000°C at air. Therefore the technology
of induction melting in cold crucible is suitable for high temperature
synthesis of oxide materials. This paper describes a new technology for
continuous melting and pouring of oxide melts. A new type of cold crucible
with two chambers is used for this application. In the first chamber the
charged oxide is melted and transferred via a barrier to the second chamber
where the oxide is superheated before pouring over a discharging hole.
During the transfer of the melted oxide from the melting zone into the
superheating zone the transport of non-melted oxide particles has to be
avoided. This transport is mainly influenced by the hydrodynamics of the
melt flow and the temperature field during melting and pouring. Numerical
simulation is used to investigate the heat and mass transfer during the
melting and pouring processes in the cold crucible furnace. Both forced and
free convections are taken into account in the simulation. Apart from the
melt flow inside the cold crucible special attention is also paid to the
behavior of the pouring stream. The numerical results are compared with
experimental data of melting and pouring experiments in the skull melting
installation at the Institute of Electrotechnology. The paper presents a
description of the cold crucible setup, the results of the numerical
simulation and comparison of them with experimental data.
