This paper presents aspects related to computer aided design of inductive electro-thermal systems using 3D finite element modelling of the inductive heating process and design of experiments. The process is modelled by using specialized software for numerical analysis of the coupled thermal and electromagnetic fields, which implies a high computation cost. Design of experiments techniques based on Box-Behnken design are applied to predict the temperature gap in the work piece, by making use of the 3D model. The optimization performed on the predicted model reveals the parameters necessary for achieving high performance and minimum design cost for the electro-inductive system, using a reduced number of the high cost model evaluations.

Keywords: Electro-thermal device, Induction heating, Finite element method, Design of experiment, Box-Behnken design, Optimization