A method for controlling a furnace for reheating iron and steel products, comprising forming an infrared image, using an infrared camera, of an upper face of a product over the width and at least partially over the length thereof when said product is arranged on a predetermined discharging surface; digital processing comprising binarization of the infrared image into two classes of pixels, one class that corresponds to the pixels associated with the presence of scale that is bonded on the face of the product and one class that corresponds to the pixels associated with the presence of scale that is not bonded on the face of the product; determining the amounts of non-bonded scale and of bonded scale on the upper face of the product on the basis of the binarized image; modifying furnace control parameters on the basis of the determined amounts of non-bonded scale and of bonded scale.

A method of vacuum arc remelting an ingot provided in a crucible assembly having an electrode includes generating a rotating magnetic field normal to a longitudinal axis of the ingot and localized to an arc region during remelting. The rotating magnetic field interacts with a melting current to produce a rotating arc directed radially outward.

A vacuum arc remelting system for forming an ingot from an electrode is provided that includes a crucible assembly configured to accommodate the electrode and the ingot, an electromagnetic energy source arranged about the crucible assembly, and a lift mechanism operable to move the electromagnetic energy source along a longitudinal axis of the crucible assembly. A magnetic field generated by the electromagnetic energy source is localized to an arc region during remelting, and in one form, the electromagnetic energy source is a coil assembly having a magnetic core and a plurality of coil pairs wrapped around the core, wherein the coil assembly is operable to generate a magnetic field from the coil based on electric current flowing in the plurality of coil pairs.

A system and method for controlling the temperature setpoints in a furnace such that a random mixture of slabs with different compositions, sizes, initial temperatures, temperature requirements, and anticipated residence times are all discharged at an appropriate temperature, with emphasis upon ensuring that no slab is insufficiently heated (rejected) per rolling and quality requirements. This is to be accomplished with minimized fuel use. This system can be implemented in a graphical programming environment, where real-time tuning, configuration, logic changes, model replacement, model retraining and other programming changes can be made without interruption of control.

A method of vacuum arc remelting an ingot provided in a crucible assembly having an electrode includes generating a rotating magnetic field normal to a longitudinal axis of the ingot and localized to an arc region during remelting. The rotating magnetic field interacts with a melting current to produce a rotating arc directed radially outward.

A vacuum arc remelting system for forming an ingot from an electrode is provided that includes a crucible assembly configured to accommodate the electrode and the ingot, an electromagnetic energy source arranged about the crucible assembly, and a lift mechanism operable to move the electromagnetic energy source along a longitudinal axis of the crucible assembly. A magnetic field generated by the electromagnetic energy source is localized to an arc region during remelting, and in one form, the electromagnetic energy source is a coil assembly having a magnetic core and a plurality of coil pairs wrapped around the core, wherein the coil assembly is operable to generate a magnetic field from the coil based on electric current flowing in the plurality of coil pairs.

A system and method for controlling the temperature setpoints in a furnace such that a random mixture of slabs with different compositions, sizes, initial temperatures, temperature requirements, and anticipated residence times are all discharged at an appropriate temperature, with emphasis upon ensuring that no slab is insufficiently heated (rejected) per rolling and quality requirements. This is to be accomplished with minimized fuel use. This system can be implemented in a graphical programming environment, where real-time tuning, configuration, logic changes, model replacement, model retraining and other programming changes can be made without interruption of control.

A method for controlling a furnace for reheating iron and steel products, comprising forming an infrared image, using an infrared camera, of an upper face of a product over the width and at least partially over the length thereof when said product is arranged on a predetermined discharging surface; digital processing comprising binarization of the infrared image into two classes of pixels, one class that corresponds to the pixels associated with the presence of scale that is bonded on the face of the product and one class that corresponds to the pixels associated with the presence of scale that is not bonded on the face of the product; determining the amounts of non-bonded scale and of bonded scale on the upper face of the product on the basis of the binarized image; modifying furnace control parameters on the basis of the determined amounts of non-bonded scale and of bonded scale.

A system and method for controlling the temperature setpoints in a furnace such that a random mixture of slabs with different compositions, sizes, initial temperatures, temperature requirements, and anticipated residence times are all discharged at an appropriate temperature, with emphasis upon ensuring that no slab is insufficiently heated (rejected) per rolling and quality requirements. This is to be accomplished with minimized fuel use. This system can be implemented in a graphical programming environment, where real-time tuning, configuration, logic changes, model replacement, model retraining and other programming changes can be made without interruption of control.