Numerical and experimental study of a two-phase cylindrical stirrer

A two-phase inductive stirrer represents a modification of a standard induction heater with the goal to change the flow structure in the melt qualitatively. It consists of a secondary induction coil without a direct connection to a power supply, but an own electrical circuit in order to create a phase shift to the primary current. The electric current in this secondary circuit is solely induced by the current in the primary circuit. This kind of magnetic field tailoring allows to arrange the flow in the molten zone as desired. For instance, the usual double vortex structure of an induction heater can easily be changed to a single torus. The resulting flow direction at the zone surface is from the primary to the secondary coil.
We present results of numerical simulations for the flow and the temperature distribution in the molten zone. In addition, model experiments using the GaInSn melt have been performed with direct measurements of the melt velocity and corresponding comparison to numerics.