Blast Furnace Simulator

A key part of IPACT’s Blast Furnace Charging Control system is the Blast Furnace Simulator. The large size and complexity of blast furnace automation systems, as well as the high cost to customers of difficult startups, make it imperative to test an automation system thoroughly before installing it.  This is very tedious, if not downright unfeasible, to do by substituting switches, potentiometers, meters, and lights for the furnace I/O, and testing manually.

A better approach is to develop a simulation of the furnace in another piece of automation, and run it in tandem with the control system.  This kind of simulation can be made to mimic the process much more closely, and can be run for long periods of time (like over weekends) to check for subtle problems which may not be evident when charging only one or two rounds.

• The simulation reads Level 1 PLC outputs to the furnace over a LAN, returns inputs to the Level 1, simulating the operation of the furnace equipment.  For example, a relief valve open command from the PLC would be seen by the simulation.  The simulation would respond by immediately de-activating the close limit switch for the relief valve. Then, after a short time delay, the simulation would activate the open limit switch for the relief valve.

• The simulator allows selective "breaking" of furnace equipment, to test the reactions of the Level 1 control system.  For example, just by selecting a button on a simulator screen, the simulator can be made to stop responding to PLC commands to a valve or set of valves.  If it is desirable to "break" a piece of equipment in a more esoteric way, then the "script" (program) which simulates that piece of equipment can be quickly modified to produce whatever behavior is desired.

• The simulated furnace charging speed is adjustable, from speeds which almost exactly duplicate real conditions, to speeds which are much faster (i.e. hoppers fill faster and skips travel faster).  This allows testing for system response during extreme conditions. It also allows moving quickly through a round to a given step which is of interest.

• The IPACT Blast Furnace Simulator allows complete test of not only Level 1, but Level 2 as well.  For example, in the systems which have already been implemented, many tens of thousands of charges (i.e. large bell dumps) have been simulated, thereby thoroughly testing the ability of the Level 2 system to run a complete, long sequence of rounds, and process the resultant data correctly.

• IPACT encourages its customers to review the simulation code, to insure that the simulator is in fact behaving as the real process behaves.  The result of complete testing with an accurate simulator is a smooth start-up, and a system which doesn’t bear the scars of many changes made under time pressure.

Integrated Process Automation & Control Technologies