AISTech 2019 — Proceedings of the Iron & Steel Technology Conference

6–9 May 2019, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA

DOI 10.1000.377.058

Data Post-Processing for Above-Burden Infrared Camera (ABirC) System

D.(Frank) Huang Marcelo Andrade&KDUOHV:DOSROHDQG&KULVWRSKHU&DSOLFN

ArcelorMittalGlobal R&D – East Chicago

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ArcelorMittal Cleveland

Keywords: Blast Furnace, Infrared Camera, Data, Software

INTRODUCTION
Since June 2012, the blast furnace above-burden infrared camera (ABirC) systems have been implemented on blast
furnaces (BF) of ArcelorMittal worldwide [1]. By the end of 2018, Eight BFs of ArcelorMittal have been equipped with
ABirC systems. All the ABirCs have been running online continuously since they were commissioned. All they are
remotely accessible and controllable. The information of the ABirC system is fully digitalized. It has become one of
the “things” of Internet of Things (IoT). The ABirCs implemented in ArcelorMittal are reliable, normal maintenance
frequencies are less than once per year.
For given raw materials, in order to increase fuel efficiency, BF productivity, and cooling stave life, the key strategies are
to increase gas utilization, lower heat loss, and improve process stability. Gas utilization, heat loss, and permeability of the
burden column in BFs can be improved through modifying or refining the burden distribution (including redistribution) and
tuyere operating parameters. The ABirC systems monitor and visualize, online and real time, the burden distribution,
burden redistribution, uneven burden descent, gas distribution, central gas flow, gas channels, and wall gas flows. The online
video of the detailed burden distribution processes has been used to calibrate a burden distribution model [1]. In addition to
the above features, the ABirC system would be also monitoring all the other events that can be observed from burden top
and above, such as coke spray[1], coke surging [1], burden shooting [1], chute drop-off, the holes developed on the chute
bottom[2], the back plate of chute drop-off[1], and etc. These extra features of ABirC are unique, they help BF operators
have trouble-shooting done in real time [1]. After being equipped with ABirC system, the performance of BFs have been
improved significantly, especially, their coke rates [1] and operational stability [1], which resulted in lowering the hot metal
cost significantly [1].
Quantifying and/or characterizing the burden top temperature or top gas temperature and their detailed distribution
would help BF operators design the proper burden distribution and optimize the top gas utilization to minimize the heat
loss. The operation data and heat balance computations concluded that increasing 1% of heat loss would increase coke rate
by 4 to 5 kg/MTHM, which is equivalent to decreasing the top gas CO utilization by 1%. In order to quantify the top gas
temperature distribution, a set of computer software has been coded for post-processing the data files of the ABirC system.
The ABirC data file, in principle, is a 2-D array of data that is related to the infrared emission strength detected by the
infrared camera in the system. Since the ABirC could not be installed at the center of a BF dome, the “image” generated by
the infrared camera in ABirC system was distorted. The post-processing software must recover the distorted image. In a BF
under operation, the distribution chute would rotate and change would angle at specified time for discharging and
distributing the burdens. Therefore, another important function of the processing software is to filter out the effects of
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© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 547

 x Three Virtual Above-Burden Probes (25 points of temperatures along 3 radii, 8 points per radius×3 + 1 at the center)
x The temperatures of burden top of top gas (minimum., area-weighted average, maximum., and standard deviation, 4 data
points)
x Central gas flow sizes and strength (absolute dimensions, root-temperature, maximum temperature, relative size, and
strength; 6 data points)
x Central gas flow location (offsets X, Y from BF center, 2 data points)
x The sizes, strengths, and distribution of gas channels and wall gas flow (24 data points)
x Chute presentation (chute indicator, 1 data points)
x Comments: IR camera file name, file number, and frame number (3 data points)

In this paper, the data post processing software and their features are presented and discussed briefly.

ABirC SYSTEM AND INTERNET CONFIGURATION

ABirC system is laid-out in Figure 1[1]. This system consists of three key components: 1) the ABirC (an infrared
camera and its protection device), 2) a computer for controlling the ABirC (ABirC computer), which is also
communicating with ABirC for displaying and collecting the infrared image from the ABirC, and 3) end-user computers
for accessing the ABirC computer to view the ABirC online images and operate the ABirC system. The
communication between the ABirC and its computer is through an independent Ethernet cable (combining LAN cables
and optical cable). The end-users access the ABirC system via intranet when they are inside the company facilities or via
internet and intranet when they are outside the company. Via intranet and internet, the end-users can operate the ABirC
system (including adjusting the camera focus, setting temperature measurement range etc.) and save the ABirC data
(including the data after post-processing) to their local computers for deep investigations. The online ABirCs and remote
accesses are very helpful to operators for improving their BF operation and performance. The ABirC system administrators
can perform all the necessary software maintenance and update remotely. In principle, the ABirC system has become
a “thing” of the “Internet of Things” (IoT) in ArcelorMittal.

Fig. 1 The layout ABirC system (1=Switch: optical/Cat_6, 2= check valve, 3=infrared camera, 4=camera housing)[1]

548 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

 ABirC LOCATION AND IMAGE DISTORTION
Figure 2a shows appearance of one of the eight ABirCs implemented at the BFs of ArcelorMittal. Figure 2b shows the
location of an ABirC at the dome of a BF. Because the burden charging facilities are sitting on the center of the dome top,
ABirC can only be installed at one side of the dome near the bottom of the gear-box of bell-less top. Due to the limited
angle of infrared camera lens (the Angle AD shown in Figure 2b and Figure 4), in order to maximize the usage of the
infrared detector array (Focal Plane Arrays, FPA[3, 4]) and to photograph the entire burden top, or as much as possible, the
camera has to point to the burden top at a proper angle (the Angle D in the Figure 2b) instead of perpendicular to the burden
top. All kinds of cameras would take a distorted photo of the object plane if the camera lens cannot be perpendicularly
pointed to the object plane. In order to show the photo distortions in details, a circle and its centerlines was drawn on a
piece of grid-paper, and then the paper was photographed by a digital camera. Figure 3a shows the photo of the grid-paper
taken by a camera that was perpendicularly pointed to the paper; and Figure 3b shows the photo of the grid paper taken
by the same camera when the camera was not pointed perpendicularly to the paper.

(a) The Appearance of ABirC (b) Typical location of ABirC

Fig. 2. The Appearances of ABirC System and its Location

(Far Side)

(Near Side)
(a) The Photo of the Grid Paper with a Circle and Its (b) The Photo the Grid paper with a Circle and Its
Centerlines Taken by a Camera Perpendicular to the CenterlinesTaken by a Camera not perpendicularly
Paper pointed to the Paper

Fig. 3. The Normal Photo vs. the Distorted Photo of a Grid Paper with a Circle and Its Centerlines

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 549

When the camera lens is pointed to the paper perpendicularly, as shown in Figure 3a, the photo presents the actual shapes of
the paper and the circle. All the grids are remained as the squares of unique size all around the photo and the circular
shape is also kept as-is. However, as shown in Figure 2b, when the camera lens is not perpendicularly pointed to the paper,
the photo presents a distorted image of the paper. The near side of the distorted image shown in Figure 3b, as marked in
Figure 2b, is the photo edge that is close to the camera, and the far side is the photo edge far from the camera. In the
distorted image of Figure 3b, the grid squares become trapezoids. The depths or heights of the grids are reducing gradually
along the photo depth direction (from near side to far side). The grid widths are also shrinking row-by-row and both sides
of the grids incline to the vertical centerline of the circle on the paper. And the circle on the paper becomes the ellipse. The
original horizontal central line of the circle is shown at a position beyond the horizontal centerline of the ellipse (the
distorted circle). The photographic distortion is dependent on the angle D of the camera lens centerline against the object
plane. When the angle D is 90°, there would be no distortion. When the angle D is smaller than 90°, distortion occurs, and
the distortion increases as the angle D decreases.

Fig. 4 The Angles of Camera Lens Fig. 5. The Camera Image Plane (Plane_C) and Object plane
(Plane_O)

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550 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

 RECOVERY OF DISTORTED IMAGES

An image recovery algorithm has been created for recovering the distorted image. The comparison of an image pictured by
ABirC with the actual image of the burden top is shown in Figure 6. Figure 6a shows the infrared (IR) image that was
pictured by the ABirC with the distortions in both its depth and width, and Figure 6b shows that of the actual image of the
burden top after projecting the image (Plane_C) of Figure 6a to the plane of burden top (Plane_O). In these two IR images,
the round red region is the central gas flow or coke chimney. The red ellipse line in Figure 6a is the BF throat inner wall
(hot face). Before recovering, the central gas flow is not shown in the center of Figure 6a and the throat inner wall is an
ellipse instead of a circle. After the image being recovered to its object shape, by projecting the Plane_C to Plane_O, the
coke chimney is shown almost in the center of the BF throat with a larger size; and the throat inner wall is also turned
back to its circular shape. This indicates that the distorted image should be recovered in order to report the correct
temperature profiles of burden top or top gas, especially the coke chimney location and its size,

(Near Side)
(Near Side)

(a) The Infrared Image Captured by ABirC (Distorted) (b) The Infrared Image of Actual Shape (Recovered)

Fig. 6. The Comparison of an Infrared Image before and after the Distortions being Recovered

EFFECTS OF THE ROTATING CHUTE

In a BF, when it is not being charged, the chute might be rotating or parked, depended on the discharging control system of
the BF. For the BFs with chute being rotating all the time, during the non-discharging time period, the chute would park at its
parking-angle (usually the largest chute angle against the vertical line). When chute is rotating at its park-angle, it may or
may not show-up in the ABirC view, depended on the ABirC angle (the angel D in Figure 2b).

(a) The ABirC View without Presenting the Rotating Chute (b) The Chute Showing-Up in ABirC View
Fig. 7. The Comparison of an Infrared Image with and without the Rotating Chute Presenting

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 551

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another edge, and it would appear inside the view for about 6 seconds of each revolution when the chute is rotating at the
certain chute angles. How much portion of the chute appearing in the view is dependent on the chute angle and the ABirC
angle (Angle D, Figure 2b). When the furnace is not being charged, the chute could be parked at its park-angle and rotating
or could stop rotating and point its tip to the far side (Figure 2b), then the chute might not present in the ABirC view (like
Figure 7a).
When the chute shows up on the ABirC view, certain areas of the burden top would be blocked by it; and burden top
temperature in the area under the chute could not be detected by the ABirC. In order to minimize this kind of effects,
a special algorithm had been established to filter out the effects of rotating chute.

CHARACTERIZATION OF TOP GAS OR BURDEN TOP TEMPERATURE PROFILES

Each frame of image in the file generated by a digital infrared camera contains a 2-dimensional (2D) array of temperature
or the data related to the strength of infrared emission from the object surface received by the camera detector along with
the object parameters (emissivity, etc.) and detector physical parameters. In order to minimize the file size (kB/frame)
without losing any validated signal, camera producers establish their own file structure and save the data in their binary
format. To read the data out from the camera image file, the file format is needed from the camera manufacturer or designer.
When the detailed format of the data file was known, a computer software was coded to read the 2D array of object emission
strength out from the image file and convert them to temperatures pixel-by-pixel. The in-house written software has been
fully validated. Table 1 shows the comparison of the temperatures read out from a frame of image file by in-house written
software with the values read from the same frame of image file by camera software. The results are all the same. The
tiny differences are caused by the different decimal places. The commercial camera software only keeps a single
decimal place and the in-house written software keeps two decimal places.

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Temp._A (K) 429.0 529.8 551.3 574.9 596.8 620.5 640.4 650.9 659.0
Temp._B (K) 429.03 529.78 551.34 574.94 596.78 620.54 640.39 650.92 659.04
Diff. (K) -0.03 0.02 -0.04 -0.04 0.02 -0.04 0.01 -0.02 -0.04

Temp._A: the temperatures read out from an image file by the camera software (manually)
Temp._B: the temperatures read out from the same image file by the home-made software

The 2D temperature array of each frame of the image would be processed for below important indexes. After the rotary
chute effects being filtered out, the results would be projected to recovered image on the object plane (Plane_O). With
this approach, in the all post processed data, such as, positions of virtual above-burden probes (VABP) and their
temperature points, sizes and positions of central gas, gas channels, and wall gas, as well as the average temperature of
top gas or burden top, etc., the effects of distortion would be filtered out completely. Due to the limit of conference page
space and the complicities of the detailed algorithms, in this paper, only the post processed results are presented and
discussed. The detailed mathematical algorithms in the computer programs might be introduced in future papers.

Three Virtual Above-Burden Probes (VABP)

Above-Burden Probes (ABP) are the traditional instrument for measuring the gas flow temperatures across the given radii
of a BF. BF operators are familiar with ABP readings. ABirC data post processing software includes the modules for
reporting 3 virtual above-burden probes (VABPs). As shown in the Figure 8, One VABP, VABP-C, is along the vertical
centerline of the throat plane (the object plane), the other two, VABP-A and VABP-B, are along the horizontal centerline of
the throat plane. All the three VABPs are from throat wall hot face to BF center. Each VABP reports 9 temperature points
(can be increased if required). One at its center, one right at the hot face of throat wall. The other 7 points are evenly

552 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

(can be increased if required). One at its center, one right at the hot face of throat wall. The other 7 points are evenly
distributed along the radius between the wall hot face and the center. All the three VABPs and their temperature points
are defined on the object plane first (Figure 8) and then the locations and points are projected to the camera plane as
shown in Figure 9. The positions of VABP temperature points are recorded inside the software for reading out the
temperatures from the camera data file. There are 25 points of temperatures rather than 27 because the center temperature
point is shared by all three VABPs. Figure 10 shows an example of the VABP temperature readings.

Fig. 8 The Three VABPs Shown on the Object Plane Fig. 9 The Three VABPs Projected to the Camera Plane

1200 Averged Burden Top Temp. Top Gas Temp.

1100 VABP-A 200
VABP-B
Temperature (oF) 190
1000
Temperature (o F)

180
VABP-C 170
900
160
800 150
140
700 130
600 120
110
500 100
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400
300
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
VABP Point (from wall to center)

Fig. 10 An Example of the VABP Readings Fig. 11. The Area-Weighted Average of Burden Top
Temperature Measured by ABirC Comparing with the
Top Gas Temperature Measured by the 4 Uptake
Thermocouples.

Average Max Min St. Deviation

400 80
Temp. Deviation (oF)

350 Spike-A 70
Temperature (oF)

300 60
250 50
200 40
150 30
100 20
50 10
0 0
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Fig. 12 The Minimum, Average, and Maximum Fig. 13. The Gas Channel at Wall of the Maximum
Burden Top Temperatures and the Standard Deviations Temperature Spike-A of Figure 12.
Measured by an ABirC when a BF having no Stable
Central Gas Flow

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 553

The Temperatures of Burden Top or Top Gas
Infrared cameras are reporting temperatures via detecting the infrared emissions from object surfaces. Since the emissivity of
solid phase is much greater than that of gas phase, the surface temperature of the solid phase is reported by infrared cameras.
However, usually, BF top gas is always carrying dusts; And, in the gas flow, the surface temperature of dusts is almost the
same as that of gas phase because their sizes are very small. So, an infrared camera would be also able to report the top gas
temperature via the flue dusts in it. The data post processing software calculates and reports the minimum, area-weighted
average, and maximum temperature as well as the standard deviation of burden top or top gas temperatures around the
burden top. As shown in Figure 6a, on the camera plane, all the cells (pixels) are square of a unique size (the grids of Figure
6a, each grid contains 100 pixels). After projecting them to the object plane (Figure 6b) the both the size and the shape of
the cells are changed. Their sizes become larger from the near side to the far side, the shape changed from unique square to
different trapezoids. The average temperature of burden top is the area-weighted average of the temperatures within the
red circle (the throat wall hot face) of Figure 6b. After average temperature being weighted by cell areas on Plane_O, the
effect of image distortion has been filtered out.
In Figure 11, the blue line shows the area-weighted average burden top temperatures based on ABirC measurements; and
the yellow line shows the average temperature of top gas measured by the four uptake thermocouples. The comparison of
the blue line with the yellow line shows that the average burden top temperatures measured by ABirC well matches the top
gas average temperatures measured by the thermocouples (TCs). However, the ABirC temperature reading is responding to
the top temperature changes immediately; but the TCs respond to the changes with long time delays. The ABirC
temperature readings are better to be used for controlling the burden top water spraying [1].
Figure 12 shows the minimum, average, maximum and standard deviations of burden top temperatures measured by an
ABirC. The grey line shows the minimum temperatures, the blue line shows the average, the red line shows the maximum,
and the yellow line shows the standard deviation. In this figure, the maximum temperature is not much greater than the
average temperature for most of the time periods. This indicates that there was no stable central gas flow. From time to
time, the maximum temperature line spiked. The spiking of the maximum temperature is usually caused by gas channels.
Figure 13 shows the wall gas channel of the Spike-A in figure 12. High frequent spiking in the maximum temperature along
with large deviations might indicate the burden shooting and/or coke sprays [1].
In the case that there is a stable central gas flow as shown in Figure 14, the maximum temperature of burden top would be
significantly higher than the average temperature as that shown in Figure 15. The spiking of the maximum temperature
line disappeared. The fluctuation of the maximum temperature was caused by the burden discharges. Usually iron ore
dumps might cover the coke chimney.

The Size and Location of Central Gas

From the ABirC views, the relative size and location of central gas flow can be observed and estimated. To quantify the size
and location of the central gas flow and record them is very useful for analyzing the effects of central gas flow on BF
behaviors; and helps operators improve their BF operation and performance, such as operational stability and fuel rate, via
optimizing the burden distribution and tuyere operation.

Average Maximum Minimum

700

600
Temperature (oF)

500

400

300

200

100

0
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Fig. 14. An ABirC View of Burden Top with a Stable Fig. 15 The Minimum, Average, Maximum and
Central Gas Flow Standard Deviations of the Temperatures of
Burden Top with a Stable Central Gas Flow

554 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

The temperature of the coke chimney root (root temperature) is defined by the burden top temperature average (un-
weighted average) plus 1.5 times of standard deviation of the temperature around the burden surface. The coke chimney is
the region near throat center in which the temperatures are equal to or higher than the root temperature. Figure 16
illustrates the definitions of the size and location of coke chimney or central gas flow. There are two definitions of
chimney size, the absolute size and the relative size. The absolute size is the vertical dimension (V, inch) and the
horizontal dimension (H, inch) as shown in Figure 16. The relative size is the percentage of the coke chimney area
(Area_C) out of the total throat area (Area_Thr.); And the chimney location is determined by the offsets of the center point
of the chimney away from the throat center, i.e., the X and Y shown in chimney details on the right side of Figure 16. Figure 17
shows an example of the relative chimney sizes and its trending. Figure 18 shows the trending of chimney locations of
a BF in ArcelorMittal.

Fig. 16. The Definitions of Central Gas Flow Size and Location

14 80
Horizontal Off-Set (X) Vertical Off-Set (Y)
12 60
Chimney Size (%)

Chimney Off-Set (in)

10 40

8 20
0
6
-20
4
-40
2
-60
0
-80
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Fig. 17. The Relative Sizes of Coke Chimney and Its Fig. 18. The Offsets of Coke Chimney Locations
Trending

3.0 14
Index of Chimney Intensity (/)

2.5 12
Chimney Strength (/)

10
2.0
8
1.5
6
1.0
4
0.5 2
0.0 0
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Fig. 19. The Coke Chimney Strength and Its Trending Fig. 20. The Index of Coke Chimney Intensity and Its
Trending

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 555

Coke Chimney Strength and Intensity Index
After sorting out the chimney region, the area-weighted average temperatures of the chimney region (denoted as Tchm)
and the area-weighted average temperature of the non-chimney region (denoted as Tnchm) are calculated in the unit of °C.
The ratio of Tchm over Tnchm (Tchm /Tnchm) is defined as the chimney strength. The post-processing software calculates and
saves this ratio in the online data file of post-processing software. This ratio is always equal to or greater than 1. If
chimney strength equals to 1, it indicates that there is no central gas flow. Figure 19 shows an example of chimney
strength and its trending. If chimney strength is much greater than 1, it indicates that the temperature of the central gas
flow is much higher than the gas temperatures of the non-chimney region and vice versa.
Now, a coke chimney has two properties, its size and its strength, which would derive 4 typical scenarios, i.e., the
chimneys of large and weak, large and strong, small and weak, small and strong. Among these four typical styles of
chimneys, which one is the most intensive? In order to answer this question, a comprehensive index - “chimney intensity
index” is created, which is defined as Chimney Size (%) multiplied by (chimney strength -1). This index is also
dimensionless. Figure 20 shows an example of the chimney intensity index and its trending. This index is very useful for
analyzing the effects of top gas distribution or coke chimney size on BF performance, such as the top gas utilization and
stability. The correlation between the top gas utilization and the chimney intensity index is shown in Figure 21, which
contains more than 50,000 operation data points. Figure 21 indicates that when the BF is operated without a coke chimney,
i.e., chimney intensity index is zero, the top gas utilization (Eta_CO) could be very high (54%) or very low (45.5%), and
they were averaged at about 50% with a large deviation. The large deviation indicates that the BF is not stable, high
frequent gas channels happens from time to time (Figure 12). As the chimney intensity index increased, the average top gas
utilization increased, and its deviation decreased. The utilization reached to its peak value (52%) when chimney intensity
index was between 4 and 5. Further increasing the chimney intensity index beyond 5, the average top gas utilization
trended downward. This indicates that there is an optimized coke chimney size and strength to achieve the highest top gas
utilization and stable BF operation; and then the lowest fuel rate. Note that different BFs or a same BF with different
conditions of burden and tuyere operation would have different optimized chimney intensity index.

Fig. 21. The Correlation between Top Gas Utilization (Eta_CO)

and the Chimney Intensity Index

556 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

 2nd Quadrant 1st Quadrant 3rd Quadrant 4th Quadrant
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Fig. 22. The Locations and Size of Wall Gas Flows

2nd Quadrant 1st Quadrant 3rd Quadrant 4th Quadrant

2.5
Wall Gas Strength (/)

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Fig. 23. The Strength of Wall Gas Flows

The Locations, Size, Strength and Intensity Index of Wall Gas Flow
The post processing software divides the BF burden top into 4 quadrants and then calculates the relative size, strength, and
area-weighted average temperature of wall gas flows in each quadrant. The locations of the wall gas flows would be
distinguished by the quadrants.
The definition of wall gas flow strength is the same as that of central gas flow. Figures 22 and 23 show examples of the
relative size and strength of wall gas flow of each quadrant respectively, which show that there were larger and stronger
wall gas flows in the quadrants 1 and 2 than those in quadrants 3 and 4. Figure 24 shows the intensity index of all wall gas
flows in the four quadrants. The definition of intensity index of the wall gas flows is the same as that of central gas flow,
and adding all intensity indexes of the wall gas flows of all four quadrants together. Comparing Figure 24 verse Figure 20,
the intensity index of wall gas flows is weaker than that of central gas flow. This is a supposed top gas distribution
pattern for most BFs. Too strong wall gas flow would not only decrease the top gas utilization but also increase heat loss.
As mentioned in the Introduction section, increasing heat loss by 1% would increase coke rate by 4 to 5 kg per tonne of hot
metal.

The Locations, Size, Strength and Intensity Index of Gas Channels

Similarly, the post processing software also calculates, quadrant-by-quadrant, the size, strength and area-weighted average
temperature of gas channels. Figures 25 and 26 show examples of the relative size and strength of gas channel of each
quadrant respectively, which indicates that certain gas channels were in quadrants 1, 2 and 3. In quadrant 4, gas channel size
was very small. The total intensity index of all gas channels of the 4 quadrants is plotted in Figure 27. The intensity index of
gas channel is much smaller than the intensity index of central gas flow. Ideally, any BFs should have zero gas channel, i.e.,
the intensity index of gas channels should be equal to zero.

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 557

 14
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Index of Wall Gas Intensity (/)

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Gas Channel (%)

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Fig. 24. The Index of Wall Gas Intensity and Its Trending Fig. 25. The Locations and Size of Gas Channels

14
2nd Qudrant 1st Quadrant 3rd Quadrant 4th Quadrant

Index of Channel Intensity (/)

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Gas Channel Strength (/)

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Fig. 26. The Strength of Gas Channels Fig. 27. The Index of Gas Channel Intensity and Its Trending

ONLINE ABirC DATA POST-PROCESSING

The ABirC Data post processing software has been running online since March 2018, no maintenance occurred so far.
It is easy to operate. To run the software, all end-users just need to simply double click on software name and do not need
to input any parameters. The software is “click-to-run”.
Figure 28 shows a brief flow-chart of the post-processing software. The post-processing software is independent from
the controlling software of the infrared camera (camera software) of the ABirC system. The software is checking the
online alive image file generated and updated by the camera and its software. If a new frame of image is available, the
post-processing software would read out data and process it for the 66 data points mentioned above (in the section of
introduction) and then output data points to the designed online data file. If there is no new image frame available, the
post-processing software will be waiting for it till a new one appears and processes it. Designing the post-processing
software to be independent from the camera software is to allow the camera software to run at its highest speed when it is
needed. For example, from time to time, ABirC users need to save the image with the highest frequency (30 frame/sec). To
be outside of the camera software and run it on the background even on a different computer can also prevent the post-
software from being interrupted by any common user of the ABirC system because the users need to operate the camera
software for using the ABirC system. Therefore, the online data post-processing will be guaranteed to run online
continuously and maintenance-free. All the post-processed data (66 points per frame) has been, online and real time,
archived in the plant database (figure 29) for BF operators to retrieve, trend, and analyze. Via the database shown on figure
29, users can directly trend ABirC data on it along with selected BF performance or retrieve them to excel files for deep
investigations.

558 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.

 IR Camera
Post Processing
Program
(Reading data) Image file (alive)

N New Frame Available (Y/N)

Waiting
Y
Post Processing Programs (Processing)

Output

Fig. 28 The Flow Chart of ABirC Data Post-Processing Software

Fig. 29 ABirC Data Online for Retrieving and Trending

SUMMARY
1. ABirC data post-processing software has been developed and commissioned successfully.
2. The post-processing software recovers the distorted image and filters out the effects of the rotating chute on the
burden top temperature profile.
3. The software runs on the background continuously. It is maintenance-free, it is easy to operate -“click-to-run”.
4. It has been running online, robustly, since March 28, 2108
5. The outputs of the software have 66 data-points per frame of image, including below 5 aspects:
1) Virtual Above-Burden Probes (VABP, 3 pieces, 25 points in all, can be increased if needed.)
2) Burden top/gas temperature: minimum., average, maximum, and standard deviation
3) The size (dimensions and area percent), location, and strength of central gas flow
4) Sizes, strengths, and distribution of gas channels and wall gas flows
5) Chute presentation (chute indicator, 1 data points)
6) Comments: IR camera file name, file number, and frame number
6. All above post-processed data has been archived on the plant database and is available online.
7. The chimney intensity index analyses proved that there is an optimized chimney size and strength for the highest top gas
utilization and most stable BF operation.

© 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology. 559

 REFERENCE

1. Huang, D.; Andrade, M.; White, D. et al, “Blast Furnace Above-Burden Infrared Camera”, I & S Technology, No. 3,
2017
2. Huang, D.; Pergi, P.; Everitt, W.; Lauer, G.; Storm, L.; and Caplick. C.; “The Effects of a Hole Through Chute
Bottom on Burden Distribution”, I & S Technology, No. 3, 2019
3. Schimert, T.; Hanson, C.; and et al, “Advances in small pixel, large format a-Si bolometer arrays”, Proceedings
of SPIE, Vol. 7298(2009).
4. Hanson, C.; “IR detectors: amorphous-silicon bolometers could surpass IR focal-plane technologies”, Laser Focus
Word, April 1, 2011.

560 © 2019 by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology.