System of Energy-Saving Optimal Control of Metal Heating Process in Heat Treatment Furnaces of Rolling Mills

Abstract

Heat-treatment furnaces for workpiece pre-rolling heating are heating plants of the transition type where sheet slabs with various characteristics are simultaneously heated. The heat treatment furnace performance is directly connected with the efficient operation of the rolling mill process plants. The irregular operation pace of the rolling mill complicates the implementation of energy-saving workpiece pre-rolling heating modes and increases the risk of delivering an insufficiently heated workpiece. This paper proposes the system of controlling the heat mode of the heat-treatment furnace by the criterion of fuel consumption rate minimization and controlling over a real heated state of a sheet slab located at the workpiece pushing from the heat-treatment furnace to the rolling mill. The author uses a simplified mathematical model of workpiece heating intended for defining the energy-saving heating path accounting for the impact of technological and structural constraints in the workpiece heating process. The calculation is conducted in real time and allows obtaining an optimal heating path of each workpiece at the moment of its loading into the heat-treatment furnace. The paper considers the necessity of interaction and the interaction itself of the subsystems performing the key function in the energy-saving operation mode of the heat-treatment furnace at workpiece heating. The author studied the subsystems of forecasting the workpiece heating time on the state of the rolling mill equipment and the geometrical dimensions of the rolled band, control over gaseous fuel burning in the heat-treatment furnace operation space, system of control over the workpiece heating state before pushing from the heat-treatment furnace and forecasting the roll temperature after the treatment of the rolling mill roughing train.

Multi-Mode Model Predictive Control Approach for Steel Billets Reheating Furnaces

“…The proposed system is simulated under different scenarios. In [31], a general structure of an optimal control system for heating billets in a reheating furnace before rolling is given. The presented control system shows the relationship of individual subsystems, each of which performs a strictly defined function.…”

Modeling of Heat Flux in a Heating Furnace

“…Some authors focused on the analysis of furnace work [10,15] and the creation control systems [12,13,[16][17][18] for heating in pusher furnaces. Optimization models [19,20] or, currently, CFD modeling [14,15] are used for the analysis of the work of the thermal aggregate. Another suitable method is work analysis based on heat losses [10], from which the efficiency of the slab heating process is determined.…”

“…It follows from the works [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] that some heat aggregates have a different heating mode, and therefore the mathematical models created are specific.…”

Synergic Combination of Hardware and Software Innovations for Energy Efficiency and Process Control Improvement: A Steel Industry Application

“…In literature, various software innovation solutions can be found. The proposed solutions are based on simulations, controllers, and optimizers; simulation-based solutions are proposed in [14,15], while level 2 control and optimization solutions are reported in [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Level 1 controllers are proposed in [25][26][27][28][29][30], while high-level solutions are reported in [31][32][33][34][35].…”