The design and operation of metallurgical smelting furnaces have gradually improved, but continuous monitoring of furnace processes is still not possible. The internal chemical reactions require extreme temperatures, often around 2000 °C, which makes monitoring and control difficult. The process condition must be interpreted based on external measurements, e.g. electrical parameters.
Fiber optics, which can measure acoustic signal along an optical fiber, is a new, enabling technology to gain better knowledge of internal conditions in smelting furnaces. The advantages are many, including light weight, small size, high sensitivity, large dynamic range, as well as robustness against electromagnetic interference.
Optical fiber can be used both as a sensor and a communication channel. This enables "distributed measurement", so that sound and vibrations can be captured along the entire length of the fiber.
In this preliminary project, we will investigate whether the fiber optic measurements can contain valuable information about the internal conditions of the furnace. If, successful, this will form the basis for developing an industrial system solution that can generate reliable, high-quality data about internal conditions under real production conditions.
