Methods and systems for determining a respective mass associated with respective portions of the respective layers of metallic scrap material deposited into a charging-bucket associated with a batchwise-charged electric arc furnace (EAF) are provided, in which the methods and systems determine the respective masses associated with the respective portions of the respective layers of metallic scrap material based on (a) the respective volume of the respective portions of the respective layers of metallic scrap material and (b) the respective assigned densities assigned by a machine learning classification model based on digital images of the respective portions of the respective layers of metallic scrap material.

A surface detection apparatus for a blast furnace is provided. An antenna is fixed to a side of a container attached to an opening portion of the blast furnace and having a bottom surface opened in correspondence to the opening portion. A reflection plate is disposed in the container immediately above the opening portion so as to face the opening portion and the antenna. A tilt angle varying mechanism and a rotation mechanism for the reflection plate are configured as a double pipe structure and are provided at an anti-antenna side of the reflection plate.

A surface detection apparatus for a blast furnace is provided. An antenna is fixed to a side of a container attached to an opening portion of the blast furnace and having a bottom surface opened in correspondence to the opening portion. A reflection plate is disposed in the container immediately above the opening portion so as to face the opening portion and the antenna. A tilt angle varying mechanism and a rotation mechanism for the reflection plate are configured as a double pipe structure and are provided at an anti-antenna side of the reflection plate.

An apparatus includes: a guide portion in which a reflection plate is disposed in an opening portion at one end, and an antenna is disposed at the other end, and which is to be inserted into a blast furnace through an opening of the furnace; a guide portion moving unit which moves the guide portion to the inside or outside of the furnace; a guide portion rotating unit which rotates the guide portion; and a reflection plate tilting unit which changes a tilt angle of the reflection plate with respect to the antenna. During measurement, the opening portion of the guide portion is protruded into the furnace, and the guide portion rotating unit and the reflection plate tilting unit are driven to scan planarly or linearly the surface of a burden in the furnace.

The furnace 10 comprises a vessel 12 having a centre axis extending between a roof and a base. The vessel holds a body 20 of material having an upper surface 24 having an upper level l.sub.u. The furnace comprises a non-contact sensor 30.1 for sensing a distance 32 between a reference point and a position on the upper surface. The non-contact sensor comprises an electromagnetic signal transceiver 36, 38, an antenna 40 for launching the signal towards the upper surface and receiving a reflection of the signal and a signal guide 46 extending between the transceiver and the antenna. The transceiver is located at one of a) a level lower than the upper level l.sub.u and b) a level higher than the upper level l.sub.u and beyond a first line 39 which is spaced a distance d.sub.0>0 from the layer on a line 41 perpendicular to the centre axis.