Application of a Low Order Observer to the On-Line Estimation of the Surface and Center Temperatures of Ingots in a Soaking Pit

This paper describes the application of a low order state observer to the on-line estimation of the normally unmeasurable surface and center temperatures of ingots in soaking pits based on a discrete dynamic ingot model developed by the authors. The simulation results show that the estimates of the ingot temperature states as given by the observer are in very good agreement with the real states of the observed ingot-soaking pit system for different operating conditions of the soaking pits. The observer can also readily compensate for initial errors in the estimates of the temperature states of the ingot. The tuning of the observer gain matrix is also investigated in this paper.