Numerical Investigation of Fuel Dilution Effects on the Performance of the Conventional and the Highly Preheated and Diluted Air Combustion Furnaces

This numerical study investigates the effects of using a diluted fuel （50% natural gas and 50% N2） in an industrial furnace under several cases of conventional combustion （air with 21% O2 at 300 and 1273 K） and the highly preheated and diluted air （1273 K with 10% O2 and 90% N2） combustion （HPDAC） conditions using an in-house computer program. It was found that by applying a combined diluted fuel and oxidant instead of their uncombined and/or undiluted states, the best condition is obtained for the establishment of HPDAC＇s main unique features. These features are low mean and maximum gas temperature and high radiation/total heat transfer to gas and tubes; as well as more uniformity of theirs distributions which results in decrease in NOx pollutant formation and increase in furnace efficiency or energy saving. Moreover, a variety of chemical flame shape, the process fluid and tubes walls temperatures profiles, the required regenerator efficiency and finally the concentration and velocity patterns have been also qualitatively/quantitatively studied.

Optimization and Aerodynamic Characteristics of New Air-Cushion Nozzle of Floating Furnace for Automobile Body Sheet

It is very important to develop new air-cushion nozzles so as to raise the heat treatment property of aluminum alloy automobile body sheet(ABS). A geometric model of air-cushion furnace equipment of ABS was built up and flow field was simulated by using k-ε turbulence equations of COMSOL Multi-physics. The influence and regularity of number(n),diameter(d) and arrangement of middle hole,and main control parameters of new air-cushion nozzle on aerodynamic characteristics and flow field were studied. The results show that:1) with n increases,airflow vortexes in air-cushion area increase in multiple; d decreases or n increases,air cushion pressure(p_c) becomes uniform; 2) average of p_c is proportional to pressure in nozzle box(p_t),when n increases,ratio of average of p_c to p_t increases,and when n ≤ 3 and d < b / 2,they have little effect on ratio of p_c average to p_t; 3) when n is an even number,n ≥4,and d ≤ b/2,p_c shows good uniformity; when n is an odd number,the center hole affects p_c uniformity greatly,and,when diameter of center hole is less than b / 4 and diameter of non-center is between b / 4 and b / 2,p_c has good uniformity. A new air-cushion jet model was presented,and the deviation of this new model with simulation data and experimental measured data are less than 7.75% and 7.76%,respectively. The present research is valuable for improving air-cushion stability,Al strip temperature homogeneity,and temperature control precision.

Numerical Simulation of the Effect of Air Distribution on Turbulent Flow and Combustion in a Tubular Heating Furnace

A three-dimension full-size numerical simulation of the effect of air distribution on turbulent flow and combustion in a tubular heating furnace was carried out. A standard k –ε turbulent model, a simplified PDF combustion model and a discrete ordinate transfer radiation model were used. The hybrid grid combining a structured and a non-structured grid was generated without any simplification of the complicated geometric configuration around the burner. It was found that the multistage combustion could reduce and control the peak value of temperature. At the same time, it was concluded that the amount of primary air had little effect on the global distribution of velocity and temperature in the furnace, but a great effect on that around the burner. It is recommended that 45% - 65% of the total amount of air be taken in in primary air inlets in the furnace. All the results are important to optimize the combustion progress.

Air cushion furnace technology for heat treatment of high quality aluminum alloy auto body sheet

The process characteristics of heat treatment of aluminum alloy auto body sheet and the working principle of air cushion furnace were introduced.The process position and irreplaceable role of air cushion furnace in the aluminum alloy auto body sheet production was pointed out after the difficulty and key points in the whole production process of auto body sheet were studied.Then the development process of air cushion furnace line of aluminum alloy sheet was reviewed,summarized and divided to two stages.Based on the research of air cushion furnace,the key technology of it was analyzed,then the key points on process,equipment and control models of air cushion furnace for aluminum alloy auto body sheet in future were put forward.With the rapid development of automotive industry,there will be certainly a new upsurge of research and application of air cushion furnace for heat treatment of aluminum alloy auto body sheet.

Physical Properties of Crushed Air-cooled Blast Furnace Slag and Numerical Representation of Its Morphology Characteristics

Physical properties and geometrical morphologies of crushed air-cooled blast furnace slag （SCR） and crushed limestone （LCR） were comparatively investigated. The shape, angularity, surface texture and internal pore structure of aggregate particles for different size and gradation were numerically represented by sphericity （ψ） and shape index （SI）, angularity number （AN）, index of aggregate particle shape and texture （IAPST）, porosity and pore size, respectively. The results show that SCR is a porous and rough aggregate. Apparent density, void, water absorption and smashing index of SCR are obviously higher than those of LCR with the same gradation, respectively. However, bulk density of SCR is lower than that of LCR with the same gradation. SI, AN, IAPST and porosity of SCR are obviously higher than those of LCR with the same gradation, respectively. The smaller particle size of SCR, the larger of its AN, IAPST and porosity.

Application of Air-cooled Blast Furnace Slag Aggregates as Replacement of Natural Aggregates in Cement-based Materials：A Study on Water Absorption Property

The influence of air-cooled blast furnace slag aggregates as replacement of natural aggregates on the water absorption of concrete and mortar was studied, and the mechanism was analyzed. The interface between aggregate and matrix in concrete was analyzed by using a micro-hardness tester, a laser confocal microscope and a scanning electron microscope with backscattered electron image mode. The pore structure of mortar matrixes under different curing conditions was investigated by mercury intrusion porosimetry. The results showed that when natural aggregates were replaced with air-cooled blast furnace slag aggregates in mortar or concrete, the content of the capillary pore in the mortar matrix was reduced and the interfacial structure between aggregate and matrix was improved, resulting in the lower water absorption of mortar or concrete. Compared to the concrete made with crushed limestone and natural river sand, the initial absorption coefficient, the secondary absorption coefficient and the water absorption capacity through the surface for 7 d of the concrete made from crushed air-cooled blast furnace slag and air-cooled blast furnace slag sand were reduced by 48.9%, 52.8%, and 46.5%, respectively.

Effect of Crushed Air-cooled Blast Furnace Slag on Mechanical Properties of Concrete

Morphology characteristics of mix aggregates with crushed air-cooled blast furnace slag（SCR） and crushed limestone（LCR） with 5-20 mm and 20-40 mm gradation were represented by numerical parameters including angularity number（AN） and index of aggregate particle shape and texture（IAPST）.The effect of mix aggregates containing SCR on compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of concrete was investigated.Fracture characteristics of concrete,interfacial structure between aggregates and matrix were analyzed.The experimental results show that porous and rough SCR increases contact area with matrix in concrete,concave holes and micro-pores on the surface of SCR are filled by mortar and hydrated cement paste,which may increase interlocking and mechanical bond between aggregate and matrix in concrete.SCR can be used to produce a high-strength concrete with better mechanical properties than corresponding concrete made with LCR.The increase of AN and IAPST of aggregate may enhance mechanical properties of concrete.

Application of Optimization Technology for Ratio of Air to Fuel Combining Feedforward with Feedback in Heating Furnace

The thermal characteristics of heating furnace using gas as fuel are discussed in detail in this paper. Combining the technique of fuzzy control with calorific value of feedforward and oxygen concentration of waste gas feedback, the optimization model for ratio of air to fuel is developed and utilized in practice. According to the practical operation, the model can effectively control the oxygen concentration of waste gas, enhance the quality of product and decrease the fuel consumption.

Dynamic simulation on effect of flame arrangement on thermal process of regenerative reheating furnace

By analyzing the characteristics of combustion and billet heating process, a 3-D transient computer fluid dynamic simulation system based on commercial software CFX4.3 and some self-programmed codes were developed to simulate the thermal process in a continuous heating furnace using high temperature air combustion technology. The effects of different switching modes on injection entrancement of multi burners, combustion and billet heating process in furnace were analyzed numerically, and the computational results were compared with on-site measurement, which verified the practicability of this numerical simulation system. The results indicate that the flow pattern and distribution of temperature in regenerative reheating furnace with partial same-side-switching combustion mode are favorable to satisfy the high quality requirements of reheating, in which the terminal heating temperature of billets is more than 1 460 K and the temperature difference between two nodes is not more than 10 K. But since the surface average temperature of billets apart fi＇om heating zone is only about 1 350 K and continued heating is needed in soaking zone, the design and operation of current state are still needed to be optimized to improve the temperature schedule of billet heating. The distribution of velocity and temperature in regenerative reheating furnace with same-side-switching combustion mode cannot satisfy the even and fast heating process. The terminal heating temperature of billets is lower than that of the former case by 30 K. The distribution of flow and temperature can be improved by using cross-switching combustion mode, whose terminal temperature of billets is about 1 470 K with small temperature difference within 10 K.

Numerical Simulation of a Batch-Type Reheating Furnace

A numerical analysis of a batch-type reheating furnace with and without thermal load was carried out using the Computational Fluid Dynamics technique. The furnace has two premixed burners and methane is used as fuel. Previous to the numerical experiments, a mesh convergence test was carried out and the average internal furnace temperature and the exhaust gases temperature were monitored as function of the number of cells in the discretized system. The influence of the Air/Fuel ratio, the position of the burners, and the thermal load on the average internal temperature, the exhaust gases temperature, and the molar fraction of methane and oxygen in the exhaust gases was numerically explored.

Computer Analysis of a Methane Fired Crucible Furnace

Two design factors and one operation parameter of a methane fired crucible furnace are numerically explored in this work. These are the number of burners, the location of the exhaust gas exit, and the air-fuel ratio, respectively. Three dimensional steady state Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations are carried out in order to analyze the influence of the above factors on the mean cavity temperature in absence of thermal load, the methane content and the oxygen content of the exit gas.

Hot Blast Flow Measurement in Blast Furnace in Straight Pipe

This article shows an innovative method to model and validate the hot air flow through the blast furnacés tuyeres. This study will be the basis for flow measurements implementation and safety interlocks for the pulverized coal injection. The flow measurements were taken in the blast furnace down leg pipes by installing refractory Venturi tubes. The system for the calculation of differential pressure takes into consideration the dimension of the Venturi, the air density and compressibility. The objective is to specify the flow transmitters required to automate a control system and implement safety interlocks for the coal injection plant.

Prediction for permeability index of blast furnace based on VMD-PSO-BP model

The permeability index is one of the important production indicators to monitor the operation of blast furnace.It is crucial to grasp the trends of changes in the new permeability index in time.For the complex vibration spectrum of the permeability index,a prediction model of the permeability index based on the VMD-PSO-BP(variational mode decomposition-particle swarm optimization-back propagation)method was proposed.Firstly,the key factors that affect the permeability index of blast furnace were studied from multiple perspectives.Then,the permeability index was divided into multiple sub-modes based on the difference of frequency bands by the VMD algorithm,and a PSO-BP prediction model was established for each sub-mode.Finally,the prediction results of each sub-mode were summed to obtain the final one.The results show that the composite prediction accuracy by using the VMD algorithm is 3%higher than that of the traditional prediction method,which has better applicability.

An Experimental Study on High Temperature and Low Oxygen Air Combustion

High temperature preheated and diluted air combustion has been confirmed as the technology, mainly applied to industrial furnaces and kilns, to realize higher thermal efficiency and lower emissions. The purpose of this study was to investigate fundamental aspects of the above-mentioned combustion experimentally and to compare with those in ordinary hydrocarbon combustion with room temperature air. The test items were exhaust gas components of CO, NOx, flame shape and radical components of CH, OH and C2,which were measured with gas analyser, camera and ICCD(Intensified Charged - Coupled Device) camera. Many Phenomena as results appeared in combustion with the oxidizer, low oxygen concentration and extremely high temperature air, such as expansion of the flammable limits, increased flame propagation speed, it looked so strange as compared with those in existing combustion technology. We confirmed that such extraordinary phenomena were believable through the hot-test experiment.

Numerical analysis of reasons for the CO distribution in an opposite-wall-firing furnace

In practical operations,the carbon monoxide(CO)distribution in an opposite-wall-firing furnace(OWFF)is characterized by a high concentration near the side walls and a low concentration in the center,accompanied by a series of combustionrelated issues.To find the reasons for the CO distribution,a numerical study was conducted on a 660 MWe OWFF.The CO concentration profiles,distribution coefficients of coal and air,mixing coefficients,and the aerodynamic characteristics were extracted for analysis.The CO distribution within the furnace greatly depends on the mixing of coal and air.A mismatch between the aerodynamic behaviors of coal and air causes the non-uniform distribution of CO.Taking into consideration that distinctive flow patterns exist within the different regions,the formation mechanisms of the CO distribution can be divided into two components:(1)In the burner region,the collision of opposite flows leads to the migration of gas and particles toward the side wall which,together with the vortexes formed at furnace corners,is responsible for unburned particles concentrated and oxygenized from the furnace center to the side wall.Thus,high CO concentrations appear in these areas.(2)As the over-fire air(OFA)jet is injected into the furnace,it occupies the central region of furnace and pushes the gas from the burner region outward to the side wall,which is disadvantageous for the mixing effect in the side wall region.As a consequence,a U-shaped distribution of CO concentration is formed.Our results contribute to a theoretical basis for facilitating the control of variation in CO concentration within the furnace.

Cooling phenomena in blast furnace hearth

Cooling water provides the best protection for refractory in the blast furnace hearth. Stable and suitable water quality and abundant cooling water are the basis for long service life of the hearth. Some phenomena about cooling system in the commercial blast furnaces were described, and reasonable explanations of these phenomena were analyzed. The results show that increasing the amount of cooling water and reducing the inlet temperature of cooling water can increase the cooling effect significantly in the case of water scaling. Heat flux in the blast furnace hearth is the average heat flux of cooling stave, and the erosion of carbon brick is uneven. There is no direct connection between the actual erosion condition and the heat flux in the hearth. The change trend of thermocouple temperature and heat flux in the hearth can reflect whether the gaps exist among the bricks or not, providing an effective guidance for industrial production and the evaluation of safety state in the hearth. And, the film boiling will not occur in the normal cooling system in the blast furnace hearth.

碳纤维预氧化炉内气流均布装置模拟研究

碳纤维是一种耐高温、高强度、耐腐蚀的新型材料,广泛应用于航空航天、国防军工和民用工业各领域。在碳纤维生产制造过程中,预氧化是其中最为关键的步骤之一。工业生产过程中往往采用预氧化炉进行预氧化,而衡量预氧化好坏的一个关键指标就是预氧化炉内风场均匀性。研究对象是预氧化炉内的气流均布装置,通过ANSYS FLUENT软件对气流通过气流均布装置后的流场分布状况进行研究。通过改变气流均布装置进出风口的几何结构以及气流分布板上开孔位置来实现气流均布。将模拟得到的流场特性与速度压力云图作对比,分析气流均布装置出口处的压力与气流均匀性来获得气流分布效果更优的气流均布装置。模拟获得的优化的气流均布装置结构为:采用双层气流分布板不完全错孔排列的直角进出口结构。

顶燃式热风炉燃烧过程数学模拟研究

一直以来,工业企业在全球能源消耗中占据着举足轻重的地位。作为这些企业的核心设备之一,热风炉在工业生产中发挥着无可替代的作用。热风炉既是能源消耗的主体,也是工业生产过程中不可或缺的热量提供者。热风炉的工作原理主要是利用燃料燃烧产生的热量,通过热交换器将热量传递给空气,产生高温热风。这些高温热风在工业生产中广泛应用于各种工艺流程,如烘干、烧结、熔炼等,对于提高生产效率和产品质量具有至关重要的作用。在介绍顶燃式热风炉燃烧器结构的基础上,探讨顶燃式热风炉数值模拟现状,重点分析了顶燃式热风炉燃烧几何模型和数学模型,并从速度分布以及温度场分布对数学模拟结果进行分析,望能通过优化燃烧过程,可以提高热风炉的燃烧效率,降低燃料消耗量和能源成本。

进气温度和含湿量对湿空气透平循环燃烧室实现柔和燃烧的影响研究

本文基于甲烷柔和燃烧的简化化学反应器网络模型,研究了空气进气温度和含湿量对湿空气透平(HAT)循环燃烧室内实现柔和燃烧的影响。针对HAT循环三种典型工况的研究结果表明:空气进口温度和燃烧室头部温度越高越容易实现柔和燃烧。空气含湿量对实现柔和燃烧的临界回流比的影响可以忽略,但空气含湿量的增加会引起点火延迟时间的延长,该影响持续至蒸汽含量达到其临界值,这有利于未燃反应物与烟气的充分掺混。当空气进口温度从381 K上升到881 K时,实现柔和燃烧的临界回流比下降了70%。空气加湿抑制NOx生成效果随着空气进口温度升高变得更加显著。随着空气进口温度的升高,由于热力型NO占主导地位,增加含湿量使得热力型NO迅速下降,而加湿引起快速型NO增加的效果不显著,从而使得整体NOx下降。针对模型柔和燃烧室的实验结果表明:绝热火焰温度在1 650~2 050 K内,热负荷36~59 k W条件下,不同含湿量(Ω=0~0.2 kg/kg)和不同空气进口温度(381,503,640 K)的NOx排放均低于1×10^(-5)@15%O2,而CO排放在含湿量0~0.1 kg/kg范围内同样能保持1×10^(-5)@15%O2以下。上述结果表明,该模型燃烧器能够在不同空气含湿量和空气进口温度下均保持较低的污染物排放。

底吹炉下料口炉结智能化处理机器人系统研究与应用

富氧底吹熔炼是国际先进的一种主流熔炼技术,底吹熔炼炉在熔化过程中,炉膛内的跳渣会导致下料口处形成炉结,影响物料进入炉体的流动。现有的炉结处理方法是人工根据运行情况不定期地对入料口进行清理,现场作业环境温度高、粉尘大、工人劳动强度大。阐述了一种机器人系统,能完成底吹炉下料口炉结的智能化处理,系统基于视觉AI感知、三维建模和力控传感等多技术融合的特种机器人清理技术,通过自主研发设计的末端力控风镐完成下料口炉结的清理作业,并已在湖南某铅冶炼厂现场运行。本系统对于底吹炉下料口炉结的识别准确率高,处理炉结的效率快、一致性好,有效减少了炉结的形成及下料口堵塞,提高了富氧底吹熔炼的整体效能和作业的安全性。