Nonlinear Programming Methods Application in the Annealing Process

In industrial sectors, many optimization problems arise while controlling technological processes. It is often the optimization tasks to maximize profit and production or minimize costs, loss in production, etc. These tasks are solved by linear and nonlinear programming methods, depending on the complexity of the problem. In technological processes taking place in thermal aggregates, the temperature of heat-treated products is the main parameter determining product quality and energy consumption. In the annealing process of steel coils, it is necessary to heat the coils to the required temperature and then cool them according to the technological procedure valid for a specific type of steel. For this reason, mathematical models have been developed to calculate the temperature in a steel coil based on the heat transfer theory. In these models, the thermophysical properties of the processed material and the annealing atmosphere are essential parameters. These parameters are not always determined in the laboratory condition. For this reason, the article describes the application of nonlinear programming methods for determining thermophysical parameters in the steel coils annealing process to increase the accuracy of calculating the temperature in the coil.