IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON

1174

velocity cannot be equated to frequency in the two specific

examples,one demolishes completelytheextention by [2],
[6] in ac impedance modeling.
Allowances are made for the possibility that equivalencing
offrequency to velocity may be acceptablyaccurate even
thoughexact equivalencing has been proved to be invalid.
Numerical studiesshow that approximate equivalencingis
not advised.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The encouragement of M. Audette and P. L. Eggleton of the
Research and Development Centre, Transport Canada,is gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
[ l ] C.A.
Guderjahn, H. J. Wipf, H. J. Fink, R. W. Boom, K. E.
McKenzie, D. Williams, and T. Downey, Magnetic suspension
andguidancefor
highspeed rocketsbysuperconducting magnets, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 40, pp. 2133-2140,1969.
[2] Y. Iwasa, Electromagnetic flight stabilitybymodelimpedance
simulation, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 44,pp. 858-862,1973.
[3] D. L. Atherton and A.R. Eastham, Flat guidance schemes for
magnetically levitated high-speed guided
ground
transport,
J. Appl. Phys.,vol. 45, pp. 1398-1405,1974,

Absfruct-Theinductionheating
of circularferromagneticplates is
studied to predict power levels under various excitation conditions. A
detailedandaccurate
analysisbased on auniquenoninteraction
approximation is presented. A lumped parameter transformer model
is developedwith the nonlinearequivalentdisk
resistance expressed
as a function of the terminal variables in the system. The transformer
model is applied to predictoperating characteristics. Experimental
results are presented to justify the theoreticalmodel.

I. INTRODUCTION

N RECENTYEARS muchinterest has been generated in

the application of induction heating to industrial processes
as a viable alternative to traditional contact heating methods.
A circular geometry has been considered for the development
of the induction range [l] , [2]. This is just one application of
a greater body of problems involving a primary exciting coil
Manuscript received November 7, 1978.

W. G. Hurley is with Honeywell, Inc., Don Mills, ON, Canada.

J. G. Kassakian is withtheElectric
Power Systems Engineering
Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
02 139.

MAGNETICS, VOL.

MAG-15, NO. 3, JULY 1979

J. P. Howell, J. Y. Wong, R. G.Rhodes, and B. E.Mulhall,

Stability of magneticallylevitated vehiclesover asplitguideway, ZEEE Trans. Magn., vol. MAG-11, no. 5, pp. 1487-1489,
1975.
D. L. Atherton, A. R. Eastham, and R. E. Tedford, Joints in
stripsforelectrodynamicmagneticlevitation
systems, ZEEE
Trans. Magn.,vol. MAG-14,no. 2, pp. 69-75,1978.
J. Y. Wong, B. E. Mulhall, and R. G. Rhodes, The impedance
modelling technique
for
investigating the characteristics of
electrodynamiclevitation
systems, J , Phys. D: Appl. Phys.,
V O ~ .8, pp. 1948-1955,1975.
B. T. Ooi and A.R. Eastham, Transverse edge effects of sheet
guidewaysinmagneticlevitation,
ZEEE Trans. Power App.
Syst., vol. PAS-94, no. 1, pp. 72-80,1975.
-, Impedancemodelingandpersistentmodecurrentsfor
the repulsive magneticlevitation system, in hoc. ZEEEZAS
Annual Meet. (IEEE Publ. 76 CH1122-1-IA),pp.1188-1195,
1976.
B. T. Ooi, A dynamic circuit theory of the repulsive magnetic
levitation system, ZEEE Trans. Power, App. Syst., vol. PAS-96,
no. 4,pp. 1094-1100,1977.
at guideway butt
B. T. Ooiand 0. P. Jain,Forcetransients
joints inrepulsive
magneticlevitation
system, ZEEE Trans.
Power App. Syst., vol. PAS-98, pp. 323-330, Jan./Feb. 1979.
0. P. Jain, Further applications of the dynamic circuit theory
totheelectrodynamic
repulsive magnetic system,Ph.D.dissertation, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 1978, ch. IV.
D. L. Atherton, A. R. Eastham, B. T. Ooi, and 0. P. Jain, Forces
and moments for electrodynamic levitation systems-Large scale
test results and theory, ZEEE Trans. Magn., vol. MAG-14, no. 2,
pp. 56-68,1978.

and secondary plate as shown in Fig. 1 for the circular geometry. Basu and Srivastava [3] have elucidated two approaches
to theproblem:thecoupled
circuit approachand the field
theory approach. They found the latter approach was more
accuratefor force calculations involvingnonmagneticdisks
with very close coupling. At large coil-diskseparations (>1 cm,
coil radii between 5 and 15 cm), both approaches were equally
acceptable. Later, Adler [4] used the field theory approach to
studythe arrangement of Fig. 1 with a magnetic plate. He
included a treatment of the effects of the
magnetic material
nonlinear permeability on power predictionsunder various
excitation conditions. However, he was unable to offer conclusive experimentaljustificationfor
his approachand did
not allude to the broader class of problems.
In this paper the coupled circuit and field theory approaches
are combined to develop a lumped-parametertransformer
model which greatly simplifies the understanding of the complex interactions present inaninductionheating
system,
giving greater physical insight into the operatingand design
ofsuch systems. The circular geometryofFig.
1 with a
magnetic plate is studied here, but the techniques developed

Secondary disk
r

,o,
Fig. 1. Coil and disk arrangement in an induction heating system.

can be easily adapted to more complicated geometries. A

detailed outline of the exact field solutions is presented. Even
for the relatively simple geometry of Fig. 1, thesesolutions
are very complex, particularly when the nonlinear permeability
of the magnetic disk is taken into account. To simplify the
numericalsolution of the governing integralequations,the
noninteractionapproximation
is introduced. This assumes
that the presence of the magnetic disk does not alter the fields
due to the primary coil actingalone. The approximation is
justifiedonmathematicaland
physical grounds. Thetransformermodel is testedexperimentallyunder
all excitation
conditions. The results are compared with numerical calculations based on thelumped-parameter transformer model.
11. FIELDTHEORYAPPROACH

Maxwell's equations may be solved using the magnetic vector

potential to give the magnetic field distribution around a current carrying coil. There are two cases of interest. The first is
when the total medium around the
coil is characterized by
the permeability of free space p o and zero conductivity. The
solution for this case is [3]

into circular segments carryingeddy currents, then the derived

solutions will also apply, providedwe can satisfy the conditions
under which these solutions hold. By superimposing the two
solutions we can find the total vector potential and from this
the eddy current density and flux density distributions at the
disk surface. We assume the disk is infinite in the radial direction and semi-infinite in the axial direction. In practice these
assumptions are reasonableto predict the quantitiesof interest,
such as absorbed disk power, provided the diskradius is greater
than 1.5 times the primary coil radius and the skin depth in
the disk is less than one fifth of the disk thickness.
Foramagnetic disk thetwoproperties of interest are its
magneticpermeability p andelectricconductivity
u. The
permeability is a nonlinear function
of the flux level.If we
assign permeabilitiesinaccordancewithflux
levels ineach
segment of the decomposed disk then superposition may be
applied. The solutions derived forthecurrent-carrying
coil
assumed zeroconductivity in themediumsurroundingthe
coil, thus ensuring the current density was zero in that region.
Tosatisfythisconditionforthe
coil-disk arrangement, we
shall assume the coil is situated in a medium with one region
having apermeability p, andutilize the Poyntingvector to
reduce theeddycurrentsinthe
disk to equivalentcurrents
flowing ineach segment of thickness 6,the skin depth,in
the disk. Theequivalentcurrentsconstitutesecondary
coils
for each segment and now case two applies to them. Finally,
theprimary
coil andsecondary segments are idealized as
filaments so that the solutions apply.
Applying case two to the coil neglects the coil-disk separation;this will be dealtwithlaterwith
the noninteraction
approximation. Fro? (2) for an N turn primarycarrying a
magnetizing current Im , the complex amplitude of the vector
potential is

&(r, z) = poNl^,a
where Jl(kr) is the Bessel Function of order 1 and argument
kr, i is the current in a coil of radius a, and r, z are the radial
and axial coordinates withthe origin at the coil center.Because
of cylindrical symmetry, only the circular component of the
vector potential needbe considered.
In the second case, half the medium (above or below the
coil) has apermeability p and again zeroconductivity. By
appropriate use of theboundaryconditiononthe
magnetic
field intensity, andassuming p >> p o , we obtain

J,

Jl(ku)Jl(kr)e-kZdk.

(3)

The suffix 9 has been dropped since we are interested in the

angular componentonly. We will write A , for
etc. By
considering Maxwell's equation it can easily be shown that the
eddy currents and magnetic flux density decay exponentially
into the disk, with the decay being characterized by the skin
depth S given by

A,,

where w is the exciting frequency (rad/s). If J,(p) is the complex amplitude of the eddy current density at the surface of
the disk ata radius p, thenconsideration of thePoynting
vector at the disk surface shows that an equivalent rms current
so the presence of the magnetic half-plane doubles the field.
(J,(p)/2)6 dp flowsinan annular segment of width dp and
In an induction heating system suchas that shown in Fig. 1, thickness 6 and givesrise to the same absorbed power in the
the magnetic coupling between'the primarycoil and secondary disk [SI. Since we have assumed the disk is semi-infinite in
conductingbody givesrise to eddycurrents which flowin
the axial direction, case two applies to the equivalent currents
coaxial circular paths and produce secondary vector potential
so that the amplitude at the disk surface of the vector potential
fields. The eddy currents will be opposite in direction to that due t o the eddy current is
of the primary coil current. The above solutions for the vector
potential fielddue t o a current carrying coil
will apply here for
theprimary coil.If we nowdecompose the secondary disk
co

A"(r, z) = poia

Jl(ka)Jl(kr)erkz dk

(2)

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. MAG-15, NO. 3, JULY 1979

1176

Equation (5) gives the vector potential at a radius r on the disk

surface (equation ( 2 ) , z = 0) and a distance z from the primary
coil, due to the eddy currents in a segment at a radius p in the
disk.
Combining (3) and (5) and using the principle of superposition, the complex amplitude of the angular component of the
magnetic vector potential at thedisk surface due to theprimary
coil current and disk eddy currents is

so (1 1) becomes

iw

1
Js(r)Jl(kr)r d r = -jopooNZrna- J1(ka)e-kz
k

A(r, z ) = poNIma

J1(ka)J1(kr)e-kz dk

This can be rearranged to give

From Maxwell's equations

Again, multiplying both sides by Jl(kr)k dk,integrating from

k = 0 to k = 03 and simplifying using the Fourier-Bessel integral
(12) gives

B=VXA
J,= UE.

d f k

So for A=J(r, z) eiw* we obtain

J(r, z ) = -jwoA(r, z).

(10)

Thus from (6)

Js(r, z ) = -jwa NZma

+-

This is the final expression for the complex amplitude of the

eddy current density at the surface of a disk at a radius r and a
height z above the plane of a coil carrying a magnetizing current of amplitude Zm. Combining (7), (8), and (9) we obtain

1-

Jl(ka)Jl(kr) e-kz dk

Since theeddy current density has an angular component,

only the axial and radial components of the magnetic flux
density are given by
Multiplying both sides by Jl(kr)r dr and integratingfrom r = 0
to r = 03 using the Fourier-Bessel integral gives [6]
rw

f(k)=

jo f(k')J,(k'r) k' dk'.

CW

J, (kr)rdr

(1 2)

Substituting (1 5) into (1 7) and noting that

The right-hand side of (1 1) can be manipulated as follows

1- 1-($
Jl(kr)rdr

J,(k'a)Jl(k'r)k'dk'

lW

Js(r)Jl(kr)rdr

d
dx

- &(x) =&(x)

-.&(x)
X

we obtain

1 +-

f i k

HURLEY AND KASSAKIAN: INDUCTION HEATING OF CIRCULAR FERROMAGNETIC PLATES

The total flux density at a, radius r on the disk surfaceis the

vector sum of the complex amplitudes of the axial and radial
components given by (1 8) and (19).
The mathematical derivation of the current density distribution at the disk surface included p in the form of 6, the skin
depth, as a function of the variable of integration r in (15).
We shall see later that the formulas for disk absorbed power
and disk equivalentresistance also incorporate this dependence
of p on the variable of integration. The permeability, 1.1, is a
nonlinear function of the flux level in the disk, but knowledge
of the fluxlevels from (1 8) and (1 9) allows p to be determined
separately for each segment of the decomposed
disk with an
experimentallydeterminednormalizedmagnetization
curve
for the material used. This method allows the superposition
principle of linear-theory to beused.However, examination
of (1 8) and(19)shows that the flux levelsarethemselves
dependent on p so that an iteration procedure
is necessary
to findtheappropriate
p for eachsegment. To avoid this
cumbersomeprocedurethenoninteractionapproximation
is
introduced.
111. THE NONINTERACTION APPROXIMATION

The magnetic fields in the coil-disk arrangement of Fig. 1

are subject to twoopposing effects. On theonehand,the
field is augmentedbythepresenceofthemagnetic
disk
(case two) but reduced, on the other hand,bytheinduced
eddy currents, the effects oftheeddycurrents
increasing
with frequency. We derived the source fieldusingcase two,
i.e., withamagnetic half-plane andconsequentdoubling of
thesource field. The nonzero spacing between the
coil and
disk reduces this factor. Actual measurements of inductance
at 1 kHz show that the inductance increases from 92.5 pH to
94.0 pH or 1.6 percent with a magnetic disk of cold-rolled
steel and 2 cm separation. Thus the factor of two is almost
cancelled by the effects of the separation and eddy currents
in the disk.
The denominator of the integrand in (1 5), (1 8), and (19)
fortheeddycurrentandfluxdensity
distributions, is the
same in all cases. Evaluated with the properties of cold-rolled
steel' at 10 kHz, it gives

Thusfor large k thedenominatorapproachesunity

while
for small k thenumeratorapproaches zero. Physically, the
denominatorrepresentsthe
effect oftheeddycurrents
in
reducingthe field. Therefore,onmathematicaland physical
grounds it is reasonable to approximate the flux distributions
as thosedue to thesourcealoneandthen
derive theeddy
current distribution from this flux distribution. Nowcase
one applies and the magneticfield is, from (1) and(8),

B,(r) =

"Falw

Jl(ka)Jo(kr)

edkzk

'Cold-rolled steel: u = 6.7 X lo6 (am)-' : pr = 600

6 = 0.08 mm at 10 kHz.

dk

1177

Jl(ka)J,(kr) emkzk dk

Jo

and from (1) and(10)

j o p o aNI, a

Js(r) = -

JO

J1(ka)J1(kr)
e-kz
dk.

Numerical series can be obtained to evaluate theabove integrals

[7]. Theseexpressions will beusedlater
to evaluatethe
transformer model parameters.

IV. TRANSFORMER
MODEL PARAMETERS-CIRCUIT
THEORY APPROACH
The lumped-parameter transformer model for the induction
heating system of Fig. 1 is shown in Fig. 2. Re is the resistance
of the primary coil with correction made for high frequency
operation. R D is the equivalent disk resistance obtained from
the decomposed disk. L , is themagnetizinginductanceof
the primary coil and Ll is the leakage inductance. A hollow
conductor is used fortheprimary coil forthepurposesof
forced convection cooling. The various parameters are calculated as follows.

A. Coil Resistance R e
The dcresistance of a hollow conductoris
Re dc =

N2na
u,2na, A

where a is the mean coil radius (Fig. l), a, is the mean radius
of the hollow conductor, N the number of turns, a, the conductor conductivity, and A the conductor thickness. The ac
resistance isderived fromthePoyntingvectorby
assuming
an equivalentcurrent inan equivalentthickness 6 , the skin
depth, as before, so that

Re ac
Re dc
-=-

'

A
6'

B. Disk Resistance R D
For an annular segment of width dr at a radius r, the equivalent rms current asusedin
(5) can be obtainedfromthe
Poynting vectoras

where JJr) is the amplitude of the eddy current density at the

disk surface given by (23). The equivalent current flows in a
thickness 6, giving an equivalent resistance of

271r
dR = a6 dr
where 6 is a function of p, which is evaluated at a radius r
from the flux level given by (21) and ( 2 2 ) and the normalized
magnetization curve.
The
average
power
absorbed in the

ON MAGNETICS, VOL. MAG-15, NO.

1979
3, JULY

TRANSACTIONS
IEEE 1178

Fig. 2. Lumped parameter transformer model for an induction heating

system.

segment is then

Ieq

Fig. 3. Phasor diagram for the lumped parameter transformer model.

71

dP = -(JS(r))'6r dr.
20

(28)

I? Terminal Variables and Efficiency

Both R D and Ieq(Fig. 2) are functions of the magnetizing
current I,. The phasor diagram in Fig. 3 is obtained from the
model of Fig. 2, and from this the terminal voltage and current can be found once themagnetizing current I, is specified.
It can be easily shown from Fig. 2 that the efficiency of the
induction systemis

Integrating over the whole disk we obtain

so the equivalent disk resistance is

whereRR is RDreflected to the primaryside of the transformer.

Differentiation shows that for maximum efficiency the
reflected disk resistance RR should equalthe magnetizing
reactance X, and under these circumstances

C. Coil Self-lnductance L,
The self-inductance of the primary coil is given by the sum
of the magnetizing and leakage components
L , = Ll t L,.

(3 2)

Many formulas which take intoaccountthe

cross section
dimensions of the coil are available fordetermining coil
self-inductance [ 8 ] .

D. Magnetizing Inductance L ,
If Lz is the secondary inductance, then
tance is

the mutual induc-

M = d G .

(33)

The coupling coefficient is unity sinceby

definition L ,
excludes the leakage flux L,.
To evaluate L , wedecompose the disk into segments and
find themutual inductancebetweenthe
primary coil and
each segment to form a mutual inductance matrix [MI. We
find the self-inductance of each segment and also the mutual
inductance between thevarious segments to give the secondary
inductancematrix [ L z ] ,withthe self-inductance termsin
the main diagonal. Thus L , above in matrix form is
L , =[MI.
[MIT[L2]-'

A mutualinductanceformula
distribution (18).

(34)
is obtainedfromtheflux

E. Leakage Inductance Ll
This is simply

L,=L,-L,.

( 35 )

(37)

Thus RR should be equal to X, and as large aspossible for

increased efficiency and so the choice of a magnetic material
with large p is justified since RDcY(1/6).
Thetransformermodel
is indispensible for design of an
actual system whereimpedances can be matched to a highfrequency inverter driving the coil.
V. EXPERIMENTAL
ANALYSIS

A 7-20 kHz, 1500-W experimental induction heatingsystem

was constructed.The dimensions of the coil andconductor
are shown in Fig. 4.
The disk used was of cold-rolled steel. Lamination specimenswere used to determine the normalized magnetization
curve forthe material. This is shown in Fig. 5 along with
incremental permeability as a function of flux density. In the
analytical analysis the eddy current and flux density distributions were found using (21)-(23).Thetotalflux
density is
the vector sum of the axial and radial components. These
distributions are shown in Fig. 6 for a 2 cm coil-disk separation and a magnetizing current of 21.1 A rms (30A peak) at
10 kHz. Thedistribution of p in the diskis obtainedfrom
the total flux. At the center of the disk the radial component
is zero but the axial component is quite large so that errors
are introduced byusing the radial component only,as suggested
byAdler
[4]. The relative permeability pr is interpolated
fromthe curveofFig.
5 in thecomputer programused to
solve the equations.
Table I shows calculated and measured parameters for a
coil-disk separationof
2 cm. Theinductance terms were

HURLEY AND KASSAKIAN: INDUCTION

1179

HEATING OF CIRCULARFERROMAGNETICPLATES

40
Innerdiameter
I.D. = 3.175mm
Wall thickness
A = 0.762mm
Copper conductivity oc = 5 . 9 x l O ' m m ) - '

20

io
I

I
i1

0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

1.0 1.2

1.4 1.6 r

O+
d

'

Primary coil radius a = 9 c m

width b = 5.5 cm
height c = 1.0 cm
Conductor length L = 11.3cm
N = 20
Primarycoilturns

@)
Fig. 4. Experimental system. (a) Coil conductordimensions.
overall dimensions.

(b) Coil

Fig. 6 . Calculated eddy current density and flux density distributions

at the disk surface (
Z, = 21.1 A rms, z = 2 cm).

B(Wb/m2)

TABLE I
CALCULATED
A N D MEASURED
PARAMETERS
FOR A COIL-DISK
SEPARATION
OF 2 cm
Paranletcr
LS

'
P.xi

0.0

10

20

40 60
80

LL

Q
?
/I* '
I
I

100

200

400 600

1000

2000

Lm

6000 10000

H(A-T/m),pr

Calculated

Measured

86.9 pH

92.5 pH

43.1 uti

50.5 ut1

43.8 pH

42.0 vti

20 m

Ec(dc)

25

ni R

Fig. 5 . Normalized magnetization and incremental permeability curves

as measured for cold-rolled steel.

measured at 1 kHz. An aluminum disk was used to measure

leakage inductance.
The discrepancy in the leakage inductance is partly due to
the nonidealshort circuit presentedby an aluminum disk.
Otherwise,there isvery goodagreementbetweencalculated
and measured values.
To determine the disk equivalent resistance R D , thepeak
magnitizing current I, is specified and using the equations of
Section IV-ByRD is determined. The phasor diagram is used
to plot RD as a function of primary current I p . Fig. 7 shows
R D versus I p for 10 kHz operation and Z = 2 cm. A primary
current of 30 A rms corresponds to a disk absorbed power of
1000 W. It is interesting t o note that even at this power level
the flux is ontheorderof
5X
Wb/m2, which i s in the
lower region of the permeability curve, Fig. 5 , and /J is fairly
constant over a very wide range of flux levels. In fact, since
R D is a function of p , then for higher current levels in Fig. 7
RD would reach a maximum corresponding to the maximum

A
5.9 5.85.7 -

[L

5.6 5.5 -

.-

5.4-

u)

5.3r

" 1I
E 5.2
5.1

0
5

10

1
15

1
1
1
1
20
25
30
35
I p (Arms)

"
1
'
40 45
50
55

Fig. 7. Equivalent disk resistance calculated as a

function of primary
coil current (z = 2 c m , f = 10 kHz).

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. MAG-15, NO. 3, JULY 1979

1180

1400

1200 1000 -

Measured

Calculated

800 -

6oo
800

"

"

rnlr,,lntmi
" U 1 U ' ~ "

600 -

400

200 0

400

10

15

20

25

30

200 -

35

b
1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0

0 1.0

Ip(N

Z(cml

Fig. 8. Disk power as a function of primary coil current; a2 = 1.53 a,

z = 2 c m , f = 10 kHz.

Fig. 9. Disk power as a function of coil-disk separation z ; I p = 30 A rms,

f = 10 kHz.

in p and then fall off. However, these power levels are impractical. On theother hand,fortransformer
steel such as
that used by Adler [4], y reaches its maximum at approximately 160 Atlm which in our case corresponds to the flux
levels at 1000 W disk power. In Fig. 5 for cold-rolled steel,
p reaches its maximum at 600 At/m. Thus it is vitally important that the correct curve is chosen if valid predictions are
to be made for equivalent resistance and power.
Equation (30) gives the power dissipated in the disk. Substituting (23) and (4) into (30) shows that PD is a function
I,, X , and o. The variation of PD with I, is reflected in the
terminalcurrent I p . Using the terminal variables I p and Vp
determined fromthe
phasor diagram, the disk absorbed
power is

PD

= VpIp

COS

6 - R,

dc

I;.

(38)

10

15

20

L
25

f(kWz)

Thus we can calculate all quantities of interest in terms of the Fig. 10. Disk power as afunction of frequency; Zp = 20 A rms,
lumped-parametertransformer model using the coupled cirz = 2 cm.
cuitapproach, with I,, and flux distributions found by the
field theory approach.
Figs. 8, 9, and 10 show experimental and theoretical curves
for PD as a function of I,, z , and f. The results show excelpD(w)
lent agreement exceptfor discrepancies at large z . This is
1400 due to convergence problems with the series used to evaluate
the integrals involving
Bessel
functions (21)-(23), where
1200 increased number of terms for increasing z were not used in
1000 the computer program; the convergence was tested only at
z = 2 cm. Phase angle measurements were made by displaying
800 voltage andcurrenton
an oscilloscope, 2' was the greatest
600 accuracy obtainable in this way. The phase anglewas in the
72"-75"range where a 2" change could cause errors of 10
percent. At high power levels, resistance changes in the disk
at high temperatures were not accounted for. However, this
does not introduce large errors since both I p and Po are
proportional to fi(Section IV-B). Hysteresis losses are also
neglected.
In thenoninteractionapproximation,
the eddycurrents
Fig. 11. Disk power as a function of primary coil current; a2 = 1.2 a,
were derived directly fromthe fluxdistribution.
On this
z = 2 c m , f = 1 0 kHz.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS
MAGNETICS,
ON

MAG-15,
VOL.

NO. 3, JULY
1181 1979

basis the upper limit of integration in the formula forIe,, can

be confined to the physical limit of the disk. This was done
for a smaller disk whose radius was 1.2 times the primary coil
radius. Again the agreement between theory and experiment
isvery good as shown in Fig, 1 1 . Theseparationand frequency plots of Figs. 9 and 10 illustrate the effect of themagnetizing branch in the transformer model. At higher frequencies the reactance of the magnetizing branchis increased so its
shunting effect on R D is reduced, reflecting a larger fraction of
the primary current into R D . Reducing axial separation allows
closer coupling or again increased magnetizing reactance, so
power is increased.

VI. CONCLUSION
As mentioned in theIntroduction,the
system wehave
studied is a relatively simple one where the field equations
could be reduced on onedimension or in some cases two.
However,thelumped-parametertransformermodel
is completely generalandonlyrequiresthe
field distributionsfor
coils of various geometries, most of which have been treated
in the literature [8]. The model is a powerful tool whereby
more complicated geometries could
be handled by adopting
the same techniques developed here. In general, the correlationbetweenexperimentaland
analytical results was quite
good over a verywiderange
ofexperiments.Thenoninteractionproved to beinvaluable in solving thecomplex field
equations without affecting the integrity or generality of the
analysis.

Themodelcould
be improvedby closer attention to the
errorsourcesoutlined in the discussion ontheexperiments.
We confinedour studies to one material, butany material,
for which a B-H curve and conductivity are available, could
be studied. Extension to rectangular or solenoidal geometries
would be relatively easy. Also asingle-frequencysinusoidal
excitationsource was used, but again themodel is general
enough to be adapted to square-wave orotherexcitation
studies.

REFERENCES
W. C. Moreland 11, Theinductionrange:Itsperformanceand
development problems, IEEE Transaction on Industry Applications, vol. IA-9, Jan./Feb. 1973.
P. H. Peters, A portable cool-surface induction cooking appliance,
IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications,vol. IA-10, Nov./Dec.
1974.
S. Basu and K. D. Srivastava, Electromagnetic forces on a metal
disk in an alternating magnetic field,
IEEE Tmnsactions on Power
Apparatus and Systems,vol. PAS-88, no. 8, August 1969.
M. S. Adler, A field-theoretical approach to magnetic induction
heating of thin circular plates, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics,
vol. MAG-4,pp. 1118-1125,December 1974.
J. D. Ryder, Networks, Lines and Fields. New York:Prentice
Hall, 1955, pp. 437-442.
P. Morse and H. Feshback, Methods of Theoretical Physics. New
York McGraw-Hill, 1953, chapter 6 , part I.
W. G. Hurley, Induction heating of circular ferromagnetic plates,
M.S. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,December
1975.
Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards, vol. 8, no. 1, U.S.Government Printing Office, January 1912.

Letters

Frequency Response Functionof a Gapped Infinite

Length Pole Piece Recording Head
MELVIN J. STAVN

Abstract-The frequency (wavelength) response function of a gapped

infinite length, infinite permeability magnetic reproduce head is calculated analytically.

INTRODUCTION

Fourier transform has been used

[4] to calculate numerically the frequencyresponsefunctionofthegapped,infinitelength
head. The
calculation presented here is largely motivated by the analytic calculation of Lindholm [5] for the semi-infiniteparallel plate head.
CONFORMAL MAP AND VECTOR POTENTIAL

The region external to the two infinite length pole pieces separated
by a gap of half length b as shown in Fig. 1 can be conformally mapped
onto the upper half complex w = u + iT plane by the implicit SchwarzChristoffel transformation [4]

The calculation presented here is an exact evaluation of the integrals

contained in [ 1, (2.2)], or what is the same thing, an exact evaluation
of the integrals contained in [2, (15)]. Various approximation schemes
[ 1 ] - [ 3 ] have been applied to these integrals, and in addition, the fast

whose differentialis given by

Manuscript received October 31, 1978; revised February 26, 1979.

The author is with the Department of Physics, University of Manitoba,
Winnipeg,MB, R3T 2N2, Canada, on leave fromtheDepartment
of
Physics, University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

The reader should be aware that an equivalent expression for

terms of logarithmsis given in [6].

z/b =

[,/x
d x + arcsin (l/w)],

0018-9464/79/0700-1181$00.75 0 1979 IEEE

(1) in