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Blast furnace is one of the most important parts in an integrated iron and steel industry where smelting of iron is carried out. Staves are essential part of a blast furnace, which increase blast furnace campaign life by providing cooling in order to protect the external steel shell from heat as well as to maintain the inner profile of the blast furnace. Under high temperature environment, stave wear takes place due to downward and upward motion of materials and hot gases, respectively. Thickness of the stave should be monitored on a continuous basis to prevent any catastrophic failure. In this study an ultrasonic test method was adopted to carry out the thickness measurement of copper staves. Measuring copper stave thickness involves two challenges; direct accessibility from the outside and its inherent intricate geometry. In this paper, a complete methodology comprising ultrasonic sensor and fixture mechanism to overcome the above challenges is discussed. An innovative stave thickness measuring device was first developed and calibrated in the laboratory, which was then used to measure the remnant stave thickness of a running industrial blast furnace. The results were verified by hole drilling method that proved the developed methodology as a reliable one.

This note describes a method to determine an imbalance in burden distribution by quantifying the ratio of coke and ferrous burden across the circumference of the blast furnace. Real-time signals of hopper weight, the tilt angle of the rotary chute, the rotation angle of the rotary chute, and the gate opening from bell less top system of the blast furnace is used as input data for this method. The imbalance in burden distribution can be seen as non-uniformity in the distribution of coke and ferrous burden across the circumference of the furnace. Few possible remedies to rectify the root cause of non-uniformity in burden distribution are discussed based on observations from an analysis of real-time signals from the bell less top system.

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