START CAST BREAKOUTS PREVENTATIVE PREDICTION USING MULTI-WAY PCA TECHNOLOGY

摘要

Breakouts during continuous caster start-up operations are of major concern in the steel-making industry, because they can lead to severe damage to equipment, significant process downtime, and potential safety consequences. As a multivariate statistical (MVS) analysis tool, Multi-way PCA (MPCA) is applied for monitoring the start-up operation of a continuous caster in order to predict potential start cast breakouts so the caster can be automatically stopped to avoid the catastrophic event. It is shown to provide good prediction of start cast breakouts resulting in significant savings in operating and maintenance costs. An on-line start cast monitoring system has been successfully implemented at Dofasco's # 2 continuous caster.