Patent ID: 11913857
Assignee: nan
Field: Thermal processes and apparatus (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F  G | IPC G

Claim 20:
21. A method controlling a steel making furnace installation, the steel making furnace installation including:
an electric arc furnace, and
a cooling panel, thermally communicating with a sidewall portion of the electric arc furnace,
the cooling panel including a conduit for receiving a flow of cooling fluid flow therealong,
a fluid leak detection system comprising an acoustic emitter, an acoustic sensor, and a processor electronically communicating with the acoustic sensor, the acoustic emitter being operable to output and propagate an acoustic signal in said cooling fluid flow, the sensor being operable to receive and sense the emitted acoustic signal, the processor being operable to output control signals to control at least one operating parameter of the steel making furnace installation,
the acoustic signal including at least one preselected frequency components or at least one harmonic frequency correlated to said preselected frequency components,
the method comprising:
positioning the acoustic emitter at a first location along said conduit to output said acoustic signal along a central portion of said cooling fluid flow spaced from the conduit sidewall,
positioning the acoustic sensor at a downstream location along said conduit, spaced from the acoustic emitter to receive and sense the output acoustic signal at the central portion of said cooling fluid flow,
providing the cooling fluid flow along the conduit as a substantially free-surfaceless flow,
from the acoustic emitter outputting the acoustic signal so as to propagate through said cooling fluid flow and along said conduit,
with the acoustic sensor, detecting the output acoustic signal, and
on identifying in the detected acoustic signal, a threshold change at least one said frequency component or harmonic frequency of said frequency component, outputting said control signals, and wherein the step of identifying the threshold change in the frequency component or harmonic frequency comprises effecting a short time Fourier Transform of the detected acoustic signal.