The component interaction network approach for modeling of complex thermal systems

•A practical approach for thermal modeling of complex systems is presented.•The approach is illustrated by a simple example of an electric furnace.•The approach is applied to a rapid thermal processing furnace and validated experimentally.

A practical approach for the thermal modeling of complex thermal systems, called the component interaction network (CIN) is presented. Its stages are explained: description of the thermal system as a set of non-overlapping components and their interactions by heat and mass exchanges, modeling of components with different levels of precision using finite volumes and finite elements, modeling of interactions by conduction, convection, radiation and advection, time resolution scheme and simulation. Non-conventional notions of conditional existence of components or time events are introduced. The approach is illustrated with a simple example of an electric furnace. It is then applied to a rapid thermal processing (RTP) furnace and validated experimentally. The advantages of the CIN approach are demonstrated.