The influence of surrounding (or proximal) radiation on radiant tubes inside a continuous hot-dip galvanizing line was investigated. The furnace chamber, the strip and the neighbouring tubes were considered as the surroundings. A coupled heat transfer model was developed and subsequently validated against experimental measurements. This model was used to calculate the radiation exchange between the tube and its surroundings, and to give the new temperature distribution on the tubes as its output. This result served as an input to an already validated FEM model, which was used to assess the creep behaviour and the corresponding stresses on the tube. Basis of the investigated setups were Alloy 602 p-type tubes operating under burner on/off firing. The results show an increase in creep deformation of the tube when the surroundings were taken into account. Highest creep deformations were observed for setups with a strip, even though these cases showed the lowest maximum tube temperatures. Furthermore, an opposing effect between creep deformation and stresses acting on the tube exists. This is supported by the fact that no definite pattern relating the creep and stresses of a tube was found. Local tube temperature gradients and transient cyclic loading due to burner on/off firing were observed to have a significant influence on the tube's service life.

Batch planning is one integral part of all industrial heat treatment processes. Its main goal is the maximization of the number of components in the batch considering the components specifications. During batch planning the temperature distribution in the batch needs to be taken into account at any point and therefore plays the decisive role. So far, the calculation of the load is based on experience. This can lead to loss of quality or reduced productivity.As a result, an interactive batch planning system for plasma nitriding furnaces is being developed in a current research and development project. The planning system contains a radiation model, which calculates the temperature distribution in the batch, and a diffusion model, which allows to predict the nitriding results based on the calculated temperatures. Due to computation time requirements a simplification of the physical model, especially the radiation model, needs to be realized. The permissible simplifications are determined in a study on a complete numerical radiation model. This paper shows the concept of the batch planning system and the development of the complete numerical radiation model.

Improving the overall energy efficiency of processes is necessary to reduce costs, lower the specific energy consumption and thereby reduce the direct or indirect emission of gases that contribute to climate change. In many metallurgical processes, a large amount of energy is lost with the off-gas. In metallurgical recycling processes, off-gas often can be used to preheat the to-be-recycled metal scrap, leading to significantly higher energy efficiency. However, the application of preheating has the disadvantage that it often requires more precise planning in the design and better control of the process. In this paper, a simplified look at a continuously charged scrap preheating aggregate for the widely used electric arc furnace (EAF) in the steel processing industry is used as illustration. Continuous scrap charging in EAF-type furnaces in general has much higher demands on process control and general process knowledge, which is why they are found only very rarely. General issues and basic modeling approaches to mitigate such issues allowing a better process control will be described. In particular, a fast, one-dimensional modeling approach for the determination of the temperature distribution inside a constantly moving scrap bulk, with hot air (or exhaust gases) flowing through it, will be described. Possible modeling applications, assumptions, possible enhancements and limitations are shown. The first results indicate that this approach can be used as a solid basis for the modeling of scrap bulks with thermally thin parts, consisting of materials with similar thermodynamic material properties. Therefore, as a basis, this approach may help improve the design and control of future or existing preheating devices in metal recycling processes.

The effects of surrounding radiation—emanating from radiation exchange with neighboring partners in indirect-fired vertical strip annealing furnaces, such as the other radiant tubes, the passing strip, and the enclosing furnace chamber—on the radiant tube lifetime were studied. In-house developed and validated numerical models were used to calculate the thermomechanical behavior, especially creep deformations and the corresponding stresses as lifetime indicating parameters. Different setups of recirculating P-type radiant tubes were investigated, including a reference case of an isolated tube. The investigations could be broadly classified into the study of the effects of different tube arrangements, burner operations (synchronous/asynchronous on/off firing), and changes of strip parameters (width/temperature). Results showed higher creep deformation of the central radiant tube in the setup with three tubes arranged horizontally in a row compared to three tubes stacked in a vertical column, even though the respective characteristic temperature values in a firing cycle were similar. Furthermore, the cases with asynchronous burner firing resulted in lower creep rates than other cases, where the burners were operating in synchronous on/off firing modes. In addition, the change of strip width had a higher impact on radiant tube lifetime compared to locally changing strip temperatures across the furnace. Alternating temperatures, caused by burner operation or process changes, such as change of strip’s speed or cross-section, and local temperature gradients were observed to be the main factors influencing the tube’s service life.

Gas impingement jets are widely applied in industrial cooling processes. In continuous heat treatment lines of steel, aluminium and copper strips, impingement jet nozzle systems are utilised to achieve rapid cooling or heating. The heat transfer depends on the flow but also on the geometric parameters such as nozzle to strip distance and the nozzle shape. The key challenge while designing cooling sections is to determine the performance of those nozzle systems or their Nusselt number respectively. Jet cooling sections are challenging to model with computational fluid dynamics or in an experimental set up. Yet, RANS-turbulence models are a cost-effective way to predict Nusselt numbers. In this work the capability of the ANSYS generalized k-omega (GEKO) two-equation turbulence model to determine the local and integral Nusselt number of an impinging air jet is evaluated. The results are contrasted to experimental investigations.