MUHAMMAD UMAR SIDDIQUI CH-016 T.E.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING NED UNIVERSITY

ASSIGNMENT SUBMITTED TO: SIR JUNAID AKHLAS

TEMPERATURE CONTROL IN FURNACES (FIXTURES, COMPONENTS, MECHANISMS)

FURNACE:
A furnace is a device in which the chemical energy of fuel or electrical energy is converted into heat which is then used to raise the temperature of material, called the burden or stock, placed within it for that purpose.

HEAT LOSSES IN FURNACE:

Conventional high temperature furnace operates generally with Thermal Efficiencies between 10 - 50 % (excepting steam generating boiler whose thermal efficiency may be up to 85%).

The sources of heat losses in furnaces are: Heat is lost to the surroundings by Radiation and Convection from the outer surface of the walls or by Conduction into the ground. Heat is also radiated through cracks or other openings. Some of the heat passes into the furnace wall and hearth. Sometimes furnace gases pass out around the door, frequently burning in the open and carrying off heat. Heat is also lost every time the door is opened. The majority heat loss is from the Flue Gases, which takes heat either in the form of sensible heat or as incomplete combustion.

All these factors are the reasons of loss of energy from the furnace, due to which temperature variations / losses occur in the furnace. Therefore, the control of heat losses in turn helps in the control of temperature of the furnace up to desired level.

CONTROLLING TEMPERATURE IN FURNACE:

MEASURES TO CONTROL HEAT LOSSES:

CONTROL OF EXCESS AIR:

With the increase in excess air, besides abnormal increase in stack losses, the ingress of too much excess air lowers the flame temperature and consequently reduces furnace temperature and the heating rate. So, amount of excess air that is optimum for the combustion process at desired operating conditions, should be calculated and injected into the furnace.

PROPER HEAT DISTRIBUTION:

Proper heat distribution helps in controlling furnace temperature, as homogenous heat distribution within furnace will automatically have uniform temperature (within a particular range) inside the furnace. Following are the ways to achieve it: The larger burner produces a long flame which may be difficult to contain within the furnace walls. More burners of less capacity give better distribution of heat in the furnace. The flames from various burners in the combustion space should also stay clear of each other. If the flames intersect, inefficient combustion would occur. The flames should not touch the stock and should propagate clear of any solid object. Any obstruction whatsoever affects combustion and creates black smoke. It is also desirable to provide the combustion volume adequate to the heat release rate. As a thumb rule, for direct fired heating furnace, a heat release equivalent to 700-900 kcal/hr. per cubic metre of combustion volume may be used. For smaller reheating furnaces, it is advisable to maintain a long flame with a golden yellow color while firing furnace oil for uniform heating.

 OPERATING AT THE DESIRED TEMPERATURE:

The temperature in the furnace should be maintained at optimum level as per operational requirement, any undesirable increase in furnace temperature will: Result in unnecessary waste of fuel in terms of heat. Overheating of stock, its spoilage or excessive oxidation. Over-stressing of refractories. Increase in radiation losses. The furnaces are often run without any temperature controls, often with the ON-OFF CONTROL, which is extremely harmful to the optimum performance of the furnace. In the OFF condition, only the atomizing air enters the furnace bringing down its temperature rapidly so that when the fuel firing process is recommended, the amount of fuel supplied to the furnace to bring up the temperature, is much more than would be necessary had the furnace been operated on a PROPORTIONAL CONTROL.

REDUCING HEAT LOSSES FROM FURNACE OPENINGS:

In fuel fired furnaces, substantial heat losses occur through furnace openings. Therefore, all unnecessary openings of the furnaces should be sealed and the flame be contained within the furnace. Doors should be tightly shut and made of light material that is durable and heat proof. Doors that are hinged or swinging type may be provided.

MINIMISING WALL LOSSES:

A large proportion of fuel energy goes to make up for the wall-heat losses. The appropriate choice of refractory and insulation materials achieves Several materials with different combinations of Heat fairly high fuel saving in industrial furnaces. Insulations and Thermal Inertia should be considered to minimize heat losses through furnace walls. There are two methods of insulation normally used for high temperature furnaces. When the furnace is operating continuously under severe conditions of atmosphere or high temperature, a lagging of Diatomaceous insulation is placed behind a dense refractory base. In other insulations where cleaner conditions or a

lower temperature prevails, the insulating material can itself form the refractory lining with no back up refractory bricks. Materials of the latter type are highly porous refractory and have fair strength and spalling resistances, and can in general be used up to a temperature as high as 1800 o C. Another class of materials (Ceramic Fibres) with very low thermal conductivity, and extremely light weight, with the capacity to withstand thermal shocks can also be used in intermittent furnaces.

HIGH EMISSIVITY CERAMIC REFRACTORY COATINGS IN FURNACES:

Emissivity is the capacity of a material to radiate heat. The emissivity of common refractory materials such as Fireclay Brick, High Alumina Brick, Ceramic Fibre etc. decreases with the increase in the furnace operating temperatures. On the contrary, it increases for High Emissivity Ceramic Coating Materials such as ZrO2 (Zircon based coating), Silica-Alumina or Ball Clay Silica etc. The emissivity of refractories as well as that of zircon based coating material is about 0.8 at normal temperature but with increase of temperature to about 800 o C, the emissivity of various refractories drops to as low as 0.4 to 0.6 while that of the zircon based coating material increases to as high as 0.95. Hence, the internal refractory surface of a furnace is coated with high emissivity ceramic coating material, which increases the emissivity of refractory lining at higher temperature thereby enhancing the radiative heat transfer rate to the stock inside the furnace resulting in uniform heating condition and high fuel efficiency and saving.

ADVANTAGES OF CERAMIC COATING: Results in reduced heat losses and thus energy savings. It provides good thermal shock resistance to bricks. There is no crack after repeated heating and cooling at 1350 o C several times. It ensures quick heating and uniformity in temperature of refractory bricks. It can withstand a temperature up to 1500 o C without damaging the mother structure.

MEASUREMENT OF HIGH TEMPERATURES:

ADVANCED PYROMETERS TO MEASURE HIGH TEMPERATURES:

With the advancement in technology, now we have sophisticated noncontact pyrometers which can determine high temperatures of furnace with best accuracy. This temperature feedback helps in Temperature Profiling. Temperature Profiling is the process of recording and interpreting temperatures of products. The data is displayed as a graph/profile and as numeric data. In its simplest form this information tells you how hot your product became and for how long, and what temperatures it reached and at what point. Process Engineers know what the perfect profile for their product should be. Variations from the ideal indicate a potential problem or unacceptable quality. By analyzing the profile you are able to verify products are of the highest quality, increase throughput, and solve production problems.

A modern pyrometer infrared thermometer uses the latest state-ofthe-art electronic technology to measure precisely the true target temperature measurement. The complete system consists of three main components: an electronic Unit, an fiber optic sensor head, and fiber optic cable. The main sensor head reads the radiance emitted from a hot target. Using the supplied emissivity value, the microprocessor control processes all the data collected and displays the results on the LCD display. The thermometer calculates temperature measurement accuracies to within 3C.

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