An analytical furnace model for optimizing aluminum melting furnaces
Conference
·
· Light Metals (Proceedings)
OSTI ID:901685
- University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
An analytical furnace model, originally established by Essenhigh and Tsai, is developed and modified in this paper. The practical application of this modified model is to predict optimum furnace operating conditions, and has been verified by experimental tests conducted in the Experimental Research Furnace (ERF) at the Albany Research Center (ARC), U.S. Department of Energy. The development of the modified Essenhigh/Tsai model is based on melting and holding tests with two main assumptions: thermal conduction loss in aluminum melting process is the same as that in holding processes, and the heat loss through flue gases is lineally proportional to the melting rate. The former is reasonable because thermal conduction loss is small as compared with firing rate, while the latter is quite accurate as shown in the test results. Tests of aluminum melting were conducted in the ERF furnace where the combustion space volume was changed by varying the roof height. The relations between firing rate, heat absorption rate, melting rate, and energy efficiency were developed from the tests, and the optimum operating conditions under which maximum energy efficiency can be achieved were predicted. In addition, the effect of roof height on the energy efficiency was determined. This model could be a valuable tool in diagnostic analysis of day-to-day operations in aluminum melting.
- Research Organization:
- University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY; Albany Research Center (ARC), Albany, OR
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; SECAT (Lexington, KY)
- OSTI ID:
- 901685
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ARC-2005-009
- Conference Information:
- Journal Name: Light Metals (Proceedings) Journal Volume: 2005
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Scale modeling of aluminum melting furnaces
Energy efficient operation of aluminum furnaces
Design and operation of an experimental reverberatory aluminum furnace
Conference
·
Mon Jan 31 23:00:00 EST 2005
·
OSTI ID:899666
Energy efficient operation of aluminum furnaces
Conference
·
Fri Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2004
·
OSTI ID:899682
Design and operation of an experimental reverberatory aluminum furnace
Conference
·
Fri Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2004
·
OSTI ID:899662