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

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将提供40多年来特种金属行业（钛和镍制造商）的首次技术进步。特种金属在我们的生活中无处不在，从飞机零件到医疗植入物，然而真空电弧重熔（VAR）工艺，这个行业的主力，自1940年发展以来一直保持相对不变。S.通过将测量用于在VAR中熔化这些高价值合金的电弧的位置的能力与操纵电弧的能力相结合，可以实现大量的电力节省，从而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，缺乏对该过程的动态的理解导致估计8%的产量损失，通过产量损失和电力效率低下，美国工业每年损失10.24亿美元的收入，导致这些产品的高价格。该项目提出通过开发一种应用反馈控制技术，能够优化这些系统内的能量分布，以更低的生产价格提供更优质的金属，从而将这种损失减少50%。该项目的智力价值在于证明实时控制可以改善基于等离子体的工业处理系统。该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。通过将电弧位置感测（其测量过程外部的磁场矢量以确定其内部的电弧位置）与外部导出场的主动操纵相耦合，可以精确地控制电弧。依靠多年来对电弧位置传感的开发和验证，再加上有限元分析模拟和实验验证，该技术将成为电弧熔化系统的第一个主动控制。重要的实现是，扩散电流路径的空间和时间控制可以精确地控制，如果验证的测量系统的电流位置与外部场发生器耦合。这项工作将集中在VAR炉的应用上，但可能对其他具有扩散电流通路的工艺有重要的应用，例如焦耳加热系统，燃料电池，增材制造或工业微波加工。熔化过程中电弧控制的预期影响是减少制造缺陷，能够生产直径增加的铸锭，减少合金生产所需的能量，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.