A steel sheet temperature control device including: a sheet temperature measurement unit; a furnace temperature measurement unit; an influence coefficient calculation unit; a control model setting unit that sets a control model; a state variable/disturbance estimation unit that estimates values of a state variable and a temperature disturbance variable of the control model at the same time; a furnace temperature change amount calculation unit that calculates a furnace temperature change amount of each of heating zones of a heating furnace under a constraint condition such that square sum of a deviation between a target value and the actual value of the temperature of the steel sheet at the outlet side of the heating furnace becomes minimum; and a furnace temperature control unit that controls a fuel flow rate used in each of the heating zones to achieve the calculated furnace temperature change amount.

Disclosed is a blast furnace apparatus includes: a rotating chute; a plurality of tuyeres; a profile measurement device configured to measure surface profiles of a burden charged into the blast furnace through the rotating chute; and a blowing amount controller configured to control a blowing amount of at least one of hot blast or pulverized coal in each of the plurality of tuyeres, in which the profile measurement device includes: a radio wave distance meter installed on the blast furnace top and configured to measure the distance to the surface of the burden charged; and an arithmetic unit configured to derive the surface profiles of the burden on a basis of distance data for the entire blast furnace related to distances to the surface of the burden obtained by scanning a detection wave of the radio wave distance meter in the blast furnace in a circumferential direction.

A method of melting a charge in a double-pass tilt rotary furnace having a door, including operating a first burner at a first firing rate, the first burner being mounted in a lower portion of the door and producing a first flame having a length; operating a second burner at a second firing rate, the second burner being mounted in an upper portion of the door and producing a second flame having a length, the second flame being distal from the charge relative to the first flame; in an initial phase when the solids in the charge impede the first flame, controlling the second firing rate to be greater than the first firing rate; and in an later phase after melting of the solids in the charge sufficiently that the first flame is not impeded, controlling the first firing rate to be greater than the second firing rate.

Methods and systems for training a neural network in tandem with a policy gradient that incorporates domain knowledge with historical data. Process constraints are incorporated into training through an action mask. Evaluation of the trained network is provided by comparing the network's recommended actions with those of an operator. A decision tree is provided to explain a path from an input of process states, into the neural network, to the output of recommended actions.

To provide a furnace control system which can predict production of flammable gases produced inside a furnace during melting, incineration, and fusion batch processes and effectively carry out furnace combustion control on the basis of said prediction results in order to reduce the conventional problem of time lag. A furnace control system has a flammable gas quantity of state calculation unit 12 which calculates a flammable gas quantity of state corresponding to prediction factor data using a quantity of state estimation model for flammable gas originating in volatile organic compounds produced using intelligent information processing technology using as learning data past data relating to furnaces, data relating to materials, and data relating to exhaust gases, and a combustion control unit 11 which controls furnace combustion on the basis of the flammable gas quantity of state calculated by the flammable gas quantity of state calculation unit 12.

An installation for distribution of granular or powder material via pneumatic transport comprising at least one dispensing hopper (3) for temporary storage of said granular or powder material, the dispensing hopper being suited to being, alternately, pressurized for emptying the dispensing hopper and depressurized to permit filling thereof, and a device for depressurizing said dispensing hopper. The depressurizing device comprises a depressurizing duct (12) connected to said dispensing hopper, a bag filter (11), having a maximum operating flow rate, connected to the depressurizing duct, and flow control means (15) for controlling the flow rate in said depressurizing duct through the bag filter. The bag filter (11) is suited to operating under pressure, and the flow control means (15) are located on the depressurizing duct (12) downstream of the bag filter (11) and are arranged to provide a flow rate which is at most equal to the maximum flow rate of the bag filter. Application in particular to an installation for injecting coal into a blast furnace.

An integrated sensor system for use in a furnace system including a furnace having at least one burner and two or more zones each differently affected by at least one furnace parameter regulating energy input into the furnace, including a first temperature sensor positioned to measure a first temperature in the furnace system, a second temperature sensor positioned to measure a second temperature in the furnace system; and a controller programmed to receive the first and second measured temperatures, and to adjust operation of a furnace system parameter based on a relationship between the first and second temperatures, thereby differentially regulating energy input into at least two of the zones of the furnace; wherein the relationship between the first and second temperatures is a function of one or more of a difference between the two temperatures, a ratio of the two temperatures, and a weighted average of the two temperatures.

A method includes firing a first burner into a furnace process chamber in a first initial condition, firing a second burner into the process chamber in a second initial condition, and measuring temperature at each of an array of locations in the process chamber. The first burner is adjusted to a first adjusted condition while the second burner is being fired at the second initial condition, and a resulting first temperature change is measured at each of the locations. The second burner is adjusted to a second adjusted condition while the first burner is being fired at the first initial condition, and a resulting second temperature change is measured at each of the locations. The measured first and second temperature changes are recorded as reference data for adjusting burner conditions to adjust temperatures at each of the locations. The method can thus be used to improve temperature uniformity throughout the array of locations.

A transient heating burner including at least two burner elements each including a distribution nozzle configured to flow a first fluid and an annular nozzle surrounding the distribution nozzle and configured to flow a second fluid, the burner also including a controller programmed to independently control the flow of the first fluid to each distribution nozzle such that at least one of the distribution nozzles is active and at least one of the distribution nozzles is passive, wherein flow in an active distribution nozzle is greater than an average flow to the distribution nozzles and flow in a passive distribution nozzle is less than the average flow to the distribution nozzles, wherein the first fluid contains a reactant that is one of fuel and oxidant and the second fluid contains a reactant that is the other of fuel and oxidant.

A method includes firing a first burner into a furnace process chamber in a first initial condition, firing a second burner into the process chamber in a second initial condition, and measuring temperature at each of an array of locations in the process chamber. The first burner is adjusted to a first adjusted condition while the second burner is being fired at the second initial condition, and a resulting first temperature change is measured at each of the locations. The second burner is adjusted to a second adjusted condition while the first burner is being fired at the first initial condition, and a resulting second temperature change is measured at each of the locations. The measured first and second temperature changes are recorded as reference data for adjusting burner conditions to adjust temperatures at each of the locations. The method can thus be used to improve temperature uniformity throughout the array of locations.