4 Heat Flow modelling regime
The QW-BHM module is a very useful tool in modelling problems of microwave heating because it makes it possible to obtain the temperature distribution within a heated object while taking into account the heating time and temperature-dependent electromagnetic parameters of the object’s media.
However, the QW-BHM module alone does not account for the diffusion of the heat generated in the object during heating – the heat transfer effect. Depending on the media properties and heating process parameters (e.g. initial temperature distribution, the heating time and the microwave power level) the influence of the heat flow effect on the final temperature distribution may vary but in many cases accounting for this physical phenomenon is crucial to ensure high accuracy of computations.
In order to model the heat transfer effect, the users may apply QW-Simulator and QW-BHM jointly with external heat flow modules or internal heat flow module. In fact, QW-BHM provides convenient interfaces, which facilitate bilateral exchange of dissipated power, enthalpy, and temperature patterns. An application called QW-HFM (Heat Flow Module) is an example external module compatible with QW-BHM. The joint use of QW-BHM with external and internal QW-HFM modules in microwave heating simulation will be described herein.
This chapter contains the following topics:
· Radiative condition for heat flow