China Nonferrous Metallurgy

The flow field velocity in rare earth electrolytic cell is not stable, the flow outside the anode is far too slow, which is not beneficial to the full electrolytic reaction and the improvement of electrolysis efficiency. The existing study shows the flow status in the electrolytic cell can be controlled by applying external magnetic field to agitate the electrolyte. In this paper, simulation is conducted of the electromagnetic agitation for the 8kA rare earth electrolytic cell, and design is made that copper coils of various ampere turns are put outside and at the bottom of the electrolyte, then by using the softwares of Ansoft Maxwell and Ansys Fluent, the finite element analysis and simulation are conducted for the magnetic field generated by electrolyte and the flow fieldis subjected to electromagnetic agitation, the following conclusions are got: the addition of coils on the lower part of the side cannot generate electromagnetic agitating force in a certain ampere turns; for the coil added on the upper part of the side, the wave form is sine wave, the ampere turns of the coil needed are less than those of the bottom, and the flow field stability is better; the needed ampere turns of the coil added at the bottom are far more than those on the upper part of the side, and compared with the position at the upper part of the side, the flow status in the cell subjected to electromagnetic agitation is more complex and chaotic.