Modelling and experimental model validation for a pusher-type reheating furnace

摘要

The slab reheating process turns out to play a key role in dealing with the steadily increasing demands on the quality of hot rolled steel plates. Improvements both in the throughput of the furnace as well as the accurate realization of reheating paths for the slabs require to incorporate modern model-based control design techniques into the furnace automation. For this, suitable mathematical models with manageable dimension and complexity have to be determined for the furnace and slab dynamics. In this contribution, first principles are applied for the derivation of a physics-based model of the reheating process in a so-called pusher-type reheating furnace. Thereby, a discontinuous mode of furnace operation is considered, which is characterized by a varying number of slabs with variable geometry being discontinuously moved through the furnace. This, in particular, results in a hybrid structure of the mathematical model. The accuracy of the mathematical model is validated by a comparison with experimental data obtained from a measurement campaign with a test slab performed at an industrial pusher-type reheating furnace.