Melt parameters consist of the operator-specified inputs which control the melt process in addition to several parameters which are calculated from process variables. The former group includes voltage, melt rate or current, arc gap or swing depth while the latter includes electrode and ingot diameters, annulus and fill ratio, current or melt rate (whichever is not specified), slag depth, specific power consumption, and maximum water temperature. The desired parameters are selected from a menu appropriate to the process model.
These parameters may be displayed either as a PROFILE or a MAP. A PROFILE is defined as a display which is a function of melt time or ingot height; a MAP is defined as a display which is a function of ingot location at the time that the specific location underwent solidification. The melt parameter PROFILE is presented in a CSV spreadsheet file from which a line plot of any melt parameter can be produced.
The melt parameter PROFILE is not presented in a VTK graphical format since there is no time-based radial variation in melt parameters and a graphical presentation would be superfluous. On the other hand, any particular melt parameter, if presented as a MAP, will exhibit radial variation since each node solidifies at a different time/ingot height in the melt process. MAP data are thus presented either as a CSV file or as a VTK file for plotting. As an example, a plot of a melt current MAP from a VTK file is shown below.
The same MAP data in a CSV file exhibits the actual value at each ingot location when that location solidified and which, with conditional formatting, can reveal pool profile information at the conclusion of melting and at the moment of final solidification. The MAP below for a VAR melt shows the melt current at the time that each node solidified. The blue values represent nodes that solidified while melting was still in progress, the green ‘0’ values represent nodes that solidified after power was turned off, and the red ‘-1’ values represent nodes that were not evaluated since they solidified from the ingot top down after the VAR melt was terminated. The red highlighted node represents the last point in the ingot to solidify.