Development of a Visual Information Technique of Nonstationary Fluctuations in a Blast Furnace Process

Abstract

By turning stave temperature and shaft pressure data, collected by a number of sensors spatially located circumferentially and vertically in the blast furnace, into images distributed in two dimensions, we have succeeded in quantitatively and objectively visualizing shaft pressure variations and spatial changes caused by slipping in the blast furnace. In addition, combining the two-dimensional distribution of secondarily processed data of changes in space and time with the progress of operation data enables early detection of shaft pressure fluctuations. The conjecture that the uneven distribution of voids in the blast furnace may be the cause of shaft pressure fluctuations has been confirmed by our model experiments. It has been also found that there exists a relationship between the cohesive zone root position, assumed by the visualized two-dimensional image of the stave temperature change over time, and the origins of shaft pressure fluctuations.