SBIR Phase I: Vacuum Arc Control using Arc Position Sensing and Induced Magnetic Fields

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将提供40多年来特殊金属行业(钛和镍制造商)的第一次技术进步。特种金属在我们的生活中无处不在，应用范围从飞机部件到医疗植入物，但该行业的主力真空弧重熔(VAR)工艺自1940年代S发展以来一直保持相对不变。通过将测量VAR中用于熔化这些高价值合金的电弧位置的能力与弧光转向能力相结合，可以实现大量的电力节约，降低消费者的成本，并提高最终产品的可靠性。例如，众所周知，由于缺乏对这一过程动态的了解，估计会导致8%的产量损失，导致美国工业每年因产量损失和电气效率低下而损失10.24亿美元的收入，导致这些产品的价格居高不下。该项目提出通过开发一种实用的反馈控制技术来减少50%的损失，该技术能够优化这些系统中的能量分配，以更低的生产价格提供更好的质量的金属。该项目的智力优势是证明实时控制可以改善基于等离子体的工业处理系统。这项创新使用外部施加的磁场来操纵熔化操作期间的电弧位置模式。通过将电弧位置传感与主动操纵外部导出场相结合，可以精确控制电弧，该传感器测量工艺外部的磁场矢量以确定工艺内部的电弧位置。依靠多年来对电弧位置传感的开发和验证，再加上有限元分析仿真和实验验证，该技术将成为第一个主动控制电弧熔化系统的技术。重要的实现是，如果验证的电流位置测量系统与外场发生器耦合，则可以精确地控制扩散电流路径的空间和时间控制。这项工作将集中在VAR熔炉的应用上，但也可能在其他具有扩散电流通道的过程中有重要的应用，如焦耳加热系统、燃料电池、添加剂制造或工业微波处理。熔化过程中的电弧控制的预期影响是减少制造缺陷，使直径不断增大的钢锭的生产成为可能，减少合金生产所需的能源，并提高操作安全性。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will provide the first technical advancement in the specialty metals industry (manufacturers of titanium and nickel) in more than 4 decades. Specialty metals are ubiquitous in our lives, with applications from aircraft parts to medical implants, yet the vacuum arc remelting (VAR) process, the work horse for this industry, has remained relatively unchanged since its development in the 1940?s. By coupling the ability to measure the location of electric arcs used for melting these high value alloys in the VAR, with the ability to steer the arcs, substantial electrical savings can be achieved, decreasing costs to the consumer and increasing reliability of the final products. For example, it is well known that the lack of understanding of the dynamics of the process leads to an estimated 8% yield loss, costing the US industry $1.024B per year in lost revenue through yield loss and electrical inefficiency, contributing to the high price of these products. This project proposes to decrease this loss by 50% by developing an applied feedback control technology capable of optimizing the energy distribution within these systems, providing better quality metals at a cheaper production price.The intellectual merit of this project is to prove that real-time control can improve plasma-based industrial processing systems. The innovation uses externally applied magnetic fields to manipulate arc position modes during melting operations. By coupling arc position sensing, which measures magnetic field vectors exterior to the process to determine arc positions interior to it, with active manipulation of externally derived fields, arcs can be precisely controlled. Relying upon years of development and validation of arc position sensing, coupled with Finite Element Analysis simulations and experimental validation, this technology will become the first active control of arc melting systems. The significant realization is that spatial and temporal control of the diffuse current paths can be controlled precisely if the validated measurement system of current location is coupled with external field generators. This effort will focus on the application to VAR furnaces but may have significant application to other processes with diffuse current pathways such as Joule heated systems, fuel cells, additive manufacturing or industrial microwave processing. The expected impact of arc control during melting is a reduction in manufacturing defects, an enablement of the production of ingots with increasing diameter, a reduction in energy required in alloy production, and improved safety of operations.