A Novel Sensing Imaging Equipment Under Extremely Dim Light for Blast Furnace Burden Surface: Starlight High-Temperature Industrial Endoscope

Blast furnace (BF) burden surface contains the most abundant, intuitive and credible smelting information and acquiring high-definition and high-brightness optical images of which is essential to realize precise material charging control, optimize gas flow distribution and improve ironmaking efficiency. It has been challengeable to obtain high-quality optical burden surface images under high-temperature, high-dust, and extremely-dim (less than 0.001 Lux) environment. Based on a novel endoscopic sensing detection idea, a reverse telephoto structure starlight imaging system with large field of view and large aperture is designed. Combined with a water-air dual cooling intelligent self-maintenance protection device and the imaging system, a starlight high-temperature industrial endoscope is developed to obtain clear optical burden surface images stably under the harsh environment. Based on an endoscope imaging area model, a material flow trajectory model and a gas-dust coupling distribution model, an optimal installation position and posture configuration method for the endoscope is proposed, which maximizes the effective imaging area and ensures large-area, safe and stable imaging of the device in a confined space. Industrial experiments and applications indicate that the proposed method obtains clear and reliable large-area optical burden surface images and reveals new BF conditions, providing key data support for green iron smelting.