Variable Cycle Control Strategy for Blast Furnace Stoves Based on Blast Temperature Prediction

Typically each one in a battery of blast furnace stoves operates cyclically with a fixed and pre-determined on-gas and on-blast duration. Since the blast stoves and their related auxiliaries have inherently different characteristics, and the quality of their fuel is changing frequently, such a fixed cycle operation mode may cause the blast air temperature fluctuate dramatically. For coping with this problem, a novel variable cycle control strategy for blast furnace stoves was proposed and implemented, which takes the overall blast temperature as its control target. This strategy is based on the blast temperature prediction of the stove just terminated its on-gas phase, and the prediction is realized by using CBR methodology.