Modeling and Optimization of Experimentally Verified Effect of Preheated Excess Air on Fuel consumption of Rotary Furnace using PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) Technique

Abstract

The energy consumption in ferrous foundries has been reported as a serious concern. The prevailing natural sources may not last long. By the time of availability of new resources we have to optimize the usage of prevailing resources to avoid serious conditions later on.The authors have attempted to analyze the effect of aspects of combustion of furnace oils in an oil fired rotary furnace with highly preheated air, and to verify the experimental results using PSOM (Particle Swarm Optimization) technique. The authors conducted a series of experiments on an oil fired rotary furnace of 200 kg capacity installed in a leading ferrous foundry. Detailed in measurements of temperature, and heat transfer, flame temperature, fuel consumption etc has been performed. During experimentation furnace was supplied with 10% excess air, preheated using multipass counter flow heat exchanger. The experimental investigations revealed that using 10% excess air drastically reduces the fuel consumption, increase melting rate, and the heat transfer rates due to enhanced flame temperature. The PSOM (Particle Swarm Optimization) technique also verified the experimental results.