Roughly half of the electrical energy input to a modern Hall–Héroult cell for the aluminum (Al) production is lost as heat. Naturally, significant efforts are currently directed toward increasing the thermal efficiency of the cell by a variety of means. In this work, a slice thermoelectric model of a Hall–Héroult cell was developed for a conventional base model (insert-free collector bar) as well as for a copper (Cu) insert model (cylindrical copper inserts in the steel collector bar). Finite element method-based simulations were carried out to determine the components of voltage drops, steady-state ledge profile, cell stability and the overall heat balance. Comparison of the specific energy consumption (SEC) and the cell current in all cases highlighted the advantages of copper insert collector bar assembly over the insert-free, base case. The use of a Cu insert can increase the plant productivity by over 5% at the same SEC as in the base case. Moreover, with the introduction of an insert, an increase in productivity with a concomitant decrease in the SEC could be achieved.

用于生产铝（Al）的现代Hall-Héroult电池输入的电能中大约有一半因热量而损失。自然地，当前大量努力致力于通过各种手段来提高电池的热效率。在这项工作中，为传统的基础模型（无插入式集电棒）以及铜（Cu）插入模型（钢制集电棒中的圆柱形铜插入件）开发了Hall-Héroult电池的切片热电模型。进行了基于有限元方法的仿真，以确定电压降，稳态壁架轮廓，电池稳定性和整体热平衡的组成部分。在所有情况下，比能耗（SEC）和电池电流的比较都突出了铜插入式集电棒组件相对于无插入式基本盒的优​​势。与基本情况下相同的SEC，使用Cu插件可以使工厂生产率提高5％以上。此外，通过插入刀片，可以提高生产率，同时降低SEC。