Abstract
More than 96% of steel in the world is produced via the method of continuous casting. The flow condition in the mould, where the initial solidification occurs, has a significant impact on the quality of steel products. It is important to have timely, and perhaps automated, control of the flow during casting. This work presents a new concept of using contactless inductive flow tomography (CIFT) as a sensor for a novel controller, which alters the strength of an electromagnetic brake (EMBr) of ruler type based on the reconstructed flow structure in the mould. The method was developed for the small-scale Liquid Metal Model for Continuous Casting (mini-LIMMCAST) facility available at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. As an example of an undesired flow condition, clogging of the submerged entry nozzle (SEN) was modelled by partly closing one of the side ports of the SEN; in combination with an active EMBr, the jet penetrates deeper into the mould than when the EMBr is switched off. Corresponding flow patterns are detected by extracting the impingement position of the jets at the narrow faces of the mould from the CIFT reconstruction. The controller is designed to detect to undesired flow condition and switch off the EMBr. The temporal resolution of CIFT is 0.5 s.
Highlights
When it comes to controlling industrial processes, it is paramount to have reliable and accurate measurements and a detailed understanding of the underlying process
In order to influence the flow in the mould, different electromagnetic actuators were developed in the last decades, which do not require any direct contact to the melt
It can be seen that the flow-induced magnetic field changes drastically when the current through the electromagnetic brake (EMBr) is varied from 0 A to 200 A at t ≈ 290 s
Summary
When it comes to controlling industrial processes, it is paramount to have reliable and accurate measurements and a detailed understanding of the underlying process. In the case of continuous casting of steel, due to the aggressive environment, measuring any variable of interest is challenging In this process, liquid steel is brought by ladles and poured in the tundish, which acts as a buffer storage between ladle changes. Systems with different magnetic field shapes for slab casters are available: the ruler and double-ruler EMBr, local braking, electromagnetic stirring at the meniscus and/or at the strand, and a combination of a stirrer at the meniscus level and an EMBr of ruler-type below the SEN. The control of these actuators based on the current flow structure in the mould would be desirable
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