Burner effects on melting process of regenerative aluminum melting furnace

According to the features of melting process of regenerative aluminum melting furnaces, a three-dimensional mathematical model with user-developed melting model, burner reversing and burning capacity model was established. The numerical simulation of melting process of a regenerative aluminum melting furnace was presented using hybrid programming method of FLUENT UDF and FLUENT scheme based on the heat balance test. Burner effects on melting process of aluminum melting furnaces were investigated by taking optimization regulations into account. The change rules of melting time on influence factors are achieved. Melting time decreases with swirl number, vertical angle of burner, air preheated temperature or natural gas flow; melting time firstly decreases with horizontal angle between burners or air-fuel ratio, then increases; melting time increases with the height of burner.

Numerical simulation of aluminum holding furnace with fluid-solid coupled heat transfer

To predict three-dimensional temperature distribution of molten aluminum and its influencing factors inside an industrial aluminum holding furnace,a fluid-solid coupled method was presented.The fluid-solid coupled mathematics models of aluminum holding furnace in the premixed combustion processing were established based on mass conservation,moment conservation,momentum conservation,energy conservation and chemistry species conservation.Computational results agree well with the test data of the typical condition.The maximum combustion temperature is 1 850 K.The average temperature of the molten aluminum is 1 158 K,and the maximum temperature difference is about 240 K.The average temperature increases 0.3 ℃ while the temperature of combustion air increases 1 ℃.The optimal excess air ratio is 1.25-1.30.

Combustion and energy balance of aluminum holding furnace with bottom porous brick purging system

For acquiring the details in aluminum holding furnace with bottom porous brick purging system,efforts were performed to try to find out the potential optimal operation schemes.By adopting transient analysis scheme and constant boundary temperature,combustion in the furnace was investigated numerically using computational fluid dynamics(CFD).The predicted gas temperature shows good agreement with the measured results,and the predicted energy distribution of the furnace is consistent with that obtained from energy balance experiment,which confirms the reliability of the numerical solution.The results show that as the fuel-air mixture temperature rises up from 300 K to 500 K,the energy utilization of the furnace could increase from 34.55% to 37.14%.However,as the excess air coefficient increases from 1.0 to 1.4,energy utilization drops from 34.55% to 29.56%.Increasing the combustion temperature is the most effective way to improve the energy efficiency of the furnace.High reactant temperature and medium excess air coefficient are recommended for high operation performance,and keeping the furnace jamb sealed well for avoiding leakage has to be emphasized.

Multiple-response optimization for melting process of aluminum melting furnace based on response surface methodology with desirability function

To reduce the fuel consumption and emissions and also enhance the molten aluminum quality, a mathematical model with user-developed melting model and burning capacity model, were established according to the features of melting process of regenerative aluminum melting furnaces. Based on validating results by heat balance test for an aluminum melting furnace, CFD （computational fluid dynamics） technique, in association with statistical experimental design were used to optimize the melting process of the aluminum melting furnace. Four important factors influencing the melting time, such as horizontal angle between burners, height-to-radius ratio, natural gas mass flow and air preheated temperature, were identified by PLACKETT-BURMAN design. A steepest descent method was undertaken to determine the optimal regions of these factors. Response surface methodology with BOX-BEHNKEN design was adopted to further investigate the mutual interactions between these variables on RSD （relative standard deviation） of aluminum temperature, RSD of furnace temperature and melting time. Multiple-response optimization by desirability function approach was used to determine the optimum melting process parameters. The results indicate that the interaction between the height-to-radius ratio and horizontal angle between burners affects the response variables significantly. The predicted results show that the minimum RSD of aluminum temperature （12.13%）, RSD of furnace temperature （18.50%） and melting time （3.9 h） could be obtained under the optimum conditions of horizontal angle between burners as 64°, height-to-radius ratio as 0.3, natural gas mass flow as 599 m3/h, and air preheated temperature as 639 ℃. These predicted values were further verified by validation experiments. The excellent correlation between the predicted and experimental values confirms the validity and practicability of this statistical optimum strategy.

Numerical simulation and combination optimization of aluminum holding furnace linings based on simulated annealing

To reduce heat loss and save cost, a combination decision model of reverb aluminum holding furnace linings in aluminum casting industry was established based on economic thickness method, and was resolved using simulated annealing. Meanwhile, a three-dimensional mathematical model of aluminum holding furnace linings was developed and integrated with user-defined heat load distribution regime model. The optimal combination was as follows: side wall with 80 mm alumino-silicate fiber felts, 232 mm diatomite brick and 116 mm chamotte brick; top wall with 50 mm clay castables, 110 mm alumino-silicate fiber felts and 200 mm refractory concrete;and bottom wall with 232 mm high-alumina brick, 60 mm clay castables and 68 mm diatomite brick. Lining temperature from high to low was successively bottom wall, side wall, and top wall. Lining temperature gradient in increasing order of magnitude was refractory layer and insulation layer. It was indicated that the results of combination optimization of aluminum holding furnace linings were valid and feasible, and its thermo-physical mechanism and cost characteristics were reasonably revealed.

Numerical simulation on melt flow with bubble stirring and temperature field in aluminum holding furnace

The numerical model for predicting the flow and temperature fields of the melt in holding furnace with porous brick purging system were set up using Euler-Lagrange approach.In this model,bubbles coalescence and disintegration were ignored based on the dimensionless analysis,and the bubble size was assumed to be obedient to Rosin-Rammler distribution with a mean size of 0.6 mm.The results show that on reference operating condition,during the heating and agitation process,melt mixes well in the furnace,and the melt velocity increases with the increase of gas flux.Holding the melt for 30 min causes the max temperature in the bulk melt to increase to 60 K.After holding the heat,the agitation processing restarts,and it takes 10 min for the stratified melt to retrieve the homogeneous temperature field when the gas flux is 10 L/min,which shows deficient alloying and degassing in the melt.With the increase of gas flux from 10 to 20,30 and 40 L/min,the necessary recovery time decreases from 10 to 6,5 and 4 min gradually,which shows the improvement of the stirring efficiency.Depending on the processing purposes,for both good degassing performance and gas saving,proper operating strategy and parameters (gas flux,primarily) could be adjusted.

Status and Progress of Refraetories for Aluminum Smelting Furnaces

Status and state-of-the-art progress on research,development and application of refractories for aluminum smelting furnaces and holding furnaces were reviewed and discussed in the present paper.The main types of aluminum smelting furnaces and smelting processes,and the service conditions of refractories and the requirements for refractory lining were also described and discussed.

Numerical Simulation of Magnetic Field Distribution in Aluminum Melting Furnace With Electromagnetic Stirring

In metallurgical processing,effective and reliable electromagnetic stirring of the melt is one of the prerequisites for higher productivity and improved process performance.Reasonable structure and electrical parameters of the stirrer are greatly significant on improving and enhancing the stirring quality.In this paper,ANSYS software is used to research the effect of stirrer parameters on magnetic field distribution in aluminum melting furnace.The results show that magnetic flux density distributes as two humps at the direction(X)of metal length.Magnetic flux density distributes as a hump at the direction(Z)of metal width,reaches its maximum at the pool center and decays gradually toward the edge.It is also demonstrated that magnetic flux density increases by 2.65mT,as kilo-ampere-turns increase by 2.The center distance between two coils changes the distribution of magnetic flux density rather than its magnitude,while the distance from coils to the bottom of molten aluminum changes the magnitude of magnetic flux density but no change of distribution.