LAPSE:2018.0203
Published Article
LAPSE:2018.0203
Model Predictive Control of the Exit Part Temperature for an Austenitization Furnace
Hari S. Ganesh, Thomas F. Edgar, Michael Baldea
July 30, 2018
Quench hardening is the process of strengthening and hardening ferrous metals and alloys by heating the material to a specific temperature to form austenite (austenitization), followed by rapid cooling (quenching) in water, brine or oil to introduce a hardened phase called martensite. The material is then often tempered to increase toughness, as it may decrease from the quench hardening process. The austenitization process is highly energy-intensive and many of the industrial austenitization furnaces were built and equipped prior to the advent of advanced control strategies and thus use large, sub-optimal amounts of energy. The model computes the energy usage of the furnace and the part temperature profile as a function of time and position within the furnace under temperature feedback control. In this paper, the aforementioned model is used to simulate the furnace for a batch of forty parts under heuristic temperature set points suggested by the operators of the plant. A model predictive control (MPC) system is then developed and deployed to control the the part temperature at the furnace exit thereby preventing the parts from overheating. An energy efficiency gain of 5.3 % was obtained under model predictive control compared to operation under heuristic temperature set points tracked by a regulatory control layer.
Keywords
austenitization, Energy Efficiency, iron and steel, Model Predictive Control
Suggested Citation
Ganesh HS, Edgar TF, Baldea M. Model Predictive Control of the Exit Part Temperature for an Austenitization Furnace. (2018). LAPSE:2018.0203
Author Affiliations
Ganesh HS: McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Edgar TF: McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Baldea M: McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
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Journal Name
Processes
Volume
4
Issue
4
Article Number
E53
Year
2016
Publication Date
2016-12-15
Published Version
ISSN
2227-9717
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PII: pr4040053, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2018.0203
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doi:10.3390/pr4040053
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Jul 30, 2018
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