Abstract
In recent years, induction-heating cookers have been disseminated explosively. It is wished to commercialize flexible and disposable food containers that are available for induction heating. In order to develop a good quality food container that is heated moderately, it is necessary to analyze accurately eddy currents induced in a thin metal plate. The integral equation method is widely used for solving induction-heating problems. If the plate thickness approaches zero, the surface integral equations on the upper and lower plate surfaces tend to become the same and the equations become ill conditioned. In this paper, firstly, we derive line integral equations from the boundary integral equations on the assumption that the electromagnetic fields in metal are attenuated rapidly compared with those along the metal surface. Next, so as to test validity of the line integral equations, we solve the eddy current induced in a thin metal container in induction heating and obtain power density given to the container and impedance characteristics of the heating coil. We compare computed results with those by FEM.
