Instrumentation and control for a refining process in steelmaking

Nippon Steel Corporation has developed a closed refining process in the basic oxygen furnace for commercial use featuring advanced instrumentation and control. The adaptive control system uses modern control theory, gain scheduling, and logic. The in-furnace instrumentation system uses an optical fiberscope and on-line image processing. These systems have made it possible to realize a practical closed refining process. As a result, the off-gas recovery and steel yield have been improved.