Innovative ore-thermal furnace control systems

Abstract

The relevance of this topic can be justified with poor automation of the ore-thermal furnace process — in particular, the one involved in the production of metallurgical silicon. The majority of process control systems enable centralized acquisition of available data. Such approach can cause certain issues as some data can arrive with a big delay or can be irrelevant to the reaction zone but rather serve to monitor separate components of the furnace. The lack of reliable real-time information forces operators to make decisions based on their experience, which often leads to inefficient operation introducing the risk of human error and, consequently, that of emergency. Such operation often leads to overconsumption of electric power, high consumption of graphite electrodes and can cause dust discharge. Control of the basic furnace parameters based on indirect parameters and the use of process model-based controllers offer innovative areas in the development of ore-thermal furnace process control systems. Improving the obser vability of the object of control remains a relevant problem. It can normally be achieved by implementing new controlled parameters in a monitoring or control system. This paper describes the most innovative control systems that enable to monitor the process parameters and control the power mode of an ore-thermal furnace. The paper reviews two articles, eleven patents and five computer programmes that have the biggest potential of industrial implementation.This research was funded through Governmental Research Grant no. FSRW-2020-0014 for 2021 and Russian Science Foundation, Grant № 22-29-003.