Inductive System for Magnesium Level Detection in a Titanium Reduction Reactor

The determination of the magnesium level in a titanium reduction retort by inductive methods
is often hampered by the formation of titanium sponge rings which disturb the propagation of
electromagnetic signals between excitation and receiver coils. We present a new method for the
reliable identification of the magnesium level which explicitly takes into account the presence of sponge rings with unknown geometry and conductivity. The resulting inverse problem is solved by a look-up-table method, based on the solution of the inductive forward problems for several tens thousands of parameter combinations. The feasibility of that method is demonstrated by performing numerical simulations and measurements on a model experiment. This method is not limited to the production of titanium but can also be applied to other applications in metal production and processing.