Optimal Temperature Rise Control for a Large-Scale Vertical Quench Furnace System

An optimal switching heating control strategy based on minimum margin (OS-MM) is proposed for high efficiency, low energy consumption, and high-uniformity fine control in a large-scale vertical quench furnace. This work was stimulated by the need for solving the contradiction between the heating rate and temperature overshoot to achieve a rapid rise in temperature with no overshoot. Based on a three-dimensional (3-D) transient temperature field model of the quenching furnace, the temperature field optimization control problem is transformed into a boundary optimization control problem of rapid heating, whereby it is rigorously proved that the fastest rise in temperature is attained by the full-power heating, which satisfies the bang-bang characteristics. The key parameter that determines the overshoot in the full-power heating mode is introduced and defined as the minimum margin in the temperature-rising process. The analytical expression for solving the minimum margin is calculated by the eigenfunction expansion method and using the strong metal thermal inertia of the internal temperature field, the OS-MM method is designed to stop the heating in advance at a calculated switching point to optimize full-power heating, thus conserving energy by reducing its consumption. The results of simulation and industrial experiments show that this strategy greatly shortens the temperature adjusting time, significantly reduces energy consumption, and effectively improves the control performance indices, such as overshoot and static error in the temperature holding period of the thermal treatment process, as compared to the existing heating methods.