Temperature control for thermal treatment of aluminum alloy in a large-scale vertical quench furnace

The temperature control of the large-scale vertical quench furnace is very difficult due to its huge volume and complex thermal exchanges. To meet the technical requirement of the quenching process, a temperature control system which integrates temperature calibration and temperature uniformity control is developed for the thermal treatment of aluminum alloy workpieces in the large-scale vertical quench furnace. To obtain the aluminum alloy workpiece temperature, an air heat transfer model is newly established to describe the temperature gradient distribution so that the immeasurable workpiece temperature can be calibrated from the available thermocouple temperature. To satisfy the uniformity control of the furnace temperature, a second order partial differential equation(PDE) is derived to describe the thermal dynamics inside the vertical quench furnace. Based on the PDE, a decoupling matrix is constructed to solve the coupling issue and decouple the heating process into multiple independent heating subsystems. Then, using the expert control rule to find a compromise of temperature rising time and overshoot during the quenching process. The developed temperature control system has been successfully applied to a 31 m large-scale vertical quench furnace, and the industrial running results show the significant improvement of the temperature uniformity, lower overshoot and shortened processing time.

Exploration and development of China's large-scale blast furance

Large-scale BF is the tendency of domestic and foreign Iron-making technology.Due to the limit of resource,technology and equipment,we can not reach the planned goal after putting the big BF into production,it is of great significance to explore the key technologies again for the sound development of the large-scale BF.The paper highlights the unique advantages of large-scale BF and the practical performance of BFs in Baosteel,and explores the related parameter choice,comprehensively matched longevity technology optimization and tapping-stability improvement in terms of structure-design,longevity and equipments etc.The author stresses BF centered basic working regulation,hoping it can exert positive effect on the scientific development of large scale BF in China.

Technological innovations of electric arc furnace bottom-blowing in China

Nowadays, in China, the bottom-blowing technique plays an important role in accelerating the molten bath stirring and promoting the metallurgical reactions in electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking. The innovations of bottom-blowing technologies in EAF steelmaking were reviewed. The optimized bottom-blowing arrangement in EAF based on the furnace structure and the position of electrodes was introduced, and the fluid flow characteristics of EAF molten bath with bottomblowing were analyzed. Furthermore, bottom-blowing CO2 in EAF can facilitate the carbon-oxygen reaction reaching equilibrium and decrease the content of nitrogen in molten steel due to its special metallurgical properties. Pulsating bottom-blowing in EAF can effectively improve the molten bath stirring through the action of the unsteady bottom blowing gas streams, which could make the fluid flow field more disorderly than the steady bottom-blowing. And submerged O2 injection with CO2 in EAF can noticeably strengthen the EAF molten bath stirring, increase the production efficiency and improve the molten steel quality.

A comprehensive CFD combustion model for supercritical CFB boilers

A combustion model of a large-scale supercritical circulati ng fluidized bed (CFB) boiler was developed for comprehensive computational-fluid-dynamics analysis. The model incorporates gas-solid hydrodynamics, coal combustion, heat transfer on heat exchange surfaces in the furnace, and heat transfer between fumace and working medium in the heat transfer tubes. In simulating the dense and dilute phases in the fumace, the gas-solid hydrodynamics is based on the Euler-Euler model and energy-minimization multiscale drag model. Coal combustion entails evaporation, devolatilization, char combustion, gas homoge neous reaction, and pollutant emission. The coefficient ofheat transfer between gas-solid and the waterwall is estimated using the cluster renewal model, and for radiation, the discrete ordinate model is used. Moreover, thermohydraulic processes in the membrane wall are also in eluded in the heat transfer process. The model was successfully applied in simulations of a 350-MW supercritical CFB boiler. Detailed distributions of solids concentration, oxygen, heat flux, and working medium temperature in the boiler furnace are presented.