; « ,^T op ^

l\

CO /

NBS TECHNICAL NOTE 1129

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE/ National Bureau of Standards

Use of Infrared Thermography

for Industrial Heat

Balance Calculations

c00

15753

10.1129

.980
NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

The National Bureau of Standards' was established by an act of Congress on March 3, 1901. The Bureau's overall goal is to strengthen and advance the Nation's science and technology

and facilitate their effective application for public benefit. To this end, the Bureau conducts

research and provides: (1) a basis for the Nation's physical measurement system, (2) scientific and technological services for industry and government, (3) a technical basis for equity in trade, and (4) technical services to promote public safety. The Bureau's technical work is per- formed by the National Measurement Laboratory, the National Engineering Laboratory, and

the Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology.

THE NATIONAL MEASUREMENT LABORATORY provides the national system of

physical and chemical and materials measurement; coordinates the system with measurement

systems of other nations and furnishes essential services leading to accurate and uniform

physical and chemical measurement throughout the Nation's scientific community, industry,

and commerce; conducts materials research leading to improved methods of measurement,

standards, and data on the properties of materials needed by industry, commerce, educational

institutions, and Government; provides advisory and research services to other Government

agencies; develops, produces, and distributes Standard Reference Materials; and provides

calibration services. The Laboratory consists of the following centers:

Absolute Physical Quantities2 — Radiation Research — Thermodynamics and

Molecular Science — Analytical Chemistry — Materials Science. THE NATIONAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY provides technology and technical ser- vices to the public and private sectors to address national needs and to solve national problems; conducts research in engineering and applied science in support of these efforts; builds and maintains competence in the necessary disciplines required to carry out this research and technical service; develops engineering data and measurement capabilities;

provides engineering measurement traceability services; develops test methods and proposes

engineering standards and code changes; develops and proposes new engineering practices;

and develops and improves mechanisms to transfer results of its research to the ultimate user. The Laboratory consists of the following centers:

Applied Mathematics — Electronics and Electrical Engineering2 — Mechanical

Engineering and Process Technology2 — Building Technology — Fire Research —

Consumer Product Technology — Field Methods.

THE INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY conducts

research and provides scientific and technical services to aid Federal agencies in the selection, acquisition, application, and use of computer technology to improve effectiveness and

economy in Government operations in accordance with Public Law 89-306 (40 U.S.C. 759), relevant Executive Orders, and other directives; carries out this mission by managing the Federal Information Processing Standards Program, developing Federal ADP standards

guidelines, and managing Federal participation in ADP voluntary standardization activities; provides scientific and technological advisory services and assistance to Federal agencies; and

provides the technical foundation for computer-related policies of the Federal Government.

The Institute consists of the following centers:

Programming Science and Technology — Computer Systems Engineering.

'Headquarters and Laboratories at Gaithersburg, MD, unless otherwise noted; mailing address Washington, DC 20234.

2 Some divisions within the center are located at Boulder, CO 80303.
Use of Infrared Thermography for

Industrial Heat Balance Calculations

Kenneth G. Kreider and Thomas P. Sheahen

Center for Continuous Process Technology

National Engineering Laboratory

National Bureau of Standards

Washington, D.C. 20234

ATIOWAL BD«VAU

OF STAVDA&DS

UBBABT

SEP 1 2 1980

not atc.~C

/C/gD

^°F o0a

*°*l:AU of *

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Philip M. Klutznick, Secretary

Luther H. Hodges, Jr., Deputy Secretary

Jordan J. Baruch, Assistant Secretary for Productivity, Technology and Innovation

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS, Ernest Ambler, Director

Issued July 1980
National Bureau of Standards Technical Note 1129

Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.). Tech. Note 1129, 38 pages (July 1980) CODEN: NBTNAE

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 1980

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402

Price $2.75 (Add 25 percent for other than U.S. mailing)
USE OF INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY FOR

INDUSTRIAL HEAT BALANCE CALCULATIONS

Kenneth G. Kreider and Thomas P. Sheahen

Abstract

Infrared thermography has been used to estimate the radiant heat loss from a channel

induction furnace containing molten iron. Using this infrared data, the surface tem- perature was mapped and the connective heat loss was calculated on the basis of a mixed

forced and free-convection model. Additional calculations were performed to include the

heat conducted away through a water jacket, and the heat lost by infiltration. The

furnace energy input was 255 kW, all electrical. The sum of radiation, convection, con- duction, and infiltration losses was 246 kW, but the water cooling alone had + 30 kU

associated with it. The radiative and convective losses (89 kW) were compared with the

losses expected on the basis of the original design (107 kW) , which is fair agreement.

The value of infrared thermography for doing heat balances on industrial furnaces was

assessed.

Key Words: Heat balance; industrial furnaces; infrared; thermography.

iii
Nomenclature

A = area

a, b, c = empirical constants

3 = coefficient of thermal expansion

C = coefficient of discharge

C = specific heat of air

P D = furnace diameter

o Ad = pressure differential (inches of water)

e = emittance

g = gravitational constant

h = overall coefficient of heat transfer

o h = film coefficient for free convection

c h = film coefficient for forced convection

I = intensity of radiation

AI = difference in radiation intensity

k = thermal conductivity m = mass flow rate

y = viscosity of air

N = Grashof number

GR

N

" = Nussett number

NU

N = Prandtl number

rR

N,,,, = Reynolds number

Rhj

P = power

AP = pressure differential

<}> = phase angle

q = heat transfer rate per unit area

Q

= heat transfer rate (kW or Btu/hr)

r = reflectance

p = air density

a = Stefan-Boltzmann constant

T = temperature

T = ambient temperature

oo AT = gradient of temperature

U = velocity of air

x = insulation thickness
CONTENTS

Page

Abstract iii

Nomenclature iv

1. Introduction 1

2. Furnace design 1

3. Infrared thermographic measurements 3

4. Radiant heat loss 5

A. Temperature map 5

B. Total emitted radiation 6

5. Convective heat transfer 7

A. Free convection 7

B. Forced convection 8

6. Water cooling 9

7. Infiltration losses 11

8. Summary 12

References 13

Tables 1 thru 5 14

Figures 1 thru 22 20

Use of Infrared Thermography for

Industrial Heat Balance Calculations

1. Introduction

Infrared thermography is one of the new measurement technologies stemming from the

development of good infrared detectors. 1 To achieve a two dimensional representation

of the surface temperature of an object such as the human body, a house, geographical

areas, or industrial equipment the infrared detector is combined with a TV-like scanning

camera and the output of the detector is displayed on a cathode ray oscilloscope. The

Thermal Processes Division of the National Bureau of Standards is investigating the limits

of accuracy and usefulness of infrared thermography when it is used to measure quantitative heat losses from industrial equipment.

Past studies in this area by Hurley and Kreider^ have established the value of

infrared thermography as a qualitative tool. These studies have demonstrated the applicability of infrared thermography in saving energy in such diverse industries as cement,

paper, forging, foundry, copper, heat treating, refractories, rubber, and heavy manufacturing. The potential for identification of flaws in insulation, malfunctioning electrical

components, serious heat losses by infiltration, or any "hot spot" using the infrared

thermography has made the infrared survey a powerful tool in energy conservation programs.

The purpose of this study was to find if infrared thermography could be used to quantify the heat losses of an industrial furnace. This quantification is important if

management decisions are to be made on investments in improvements such as upgraded

maintenance and operating procedures, improved insulation, or redesign of the equipment.

The subject for this study was a channel induction furnace used for holding iron in

a molten state prior to pouring castings. This is a particularly desirable target because of it's simplicity: all of the heat input is electrical, and there is no stack or other outlet to carry away a major portion of the heat. Thus, the heat loss mechanisms

should be only radiation and convection from the outer surface, and conduction of heat

through a water jacket. Had a stack been present (as in furnaces where fossil fuels

provide the input energy), it would have been harder to make quantitative measurements.

A common practice in the past has been to perform a heat balance by measuring

conduction (water-jacket) losses, estimating stack losses, and then assigning the difference between these and the total input to the broad category "radiation and other".

Here we try to minimize the uncertainty by measuring the amount of radiation and calculating that surface loss. In this example, doing so led us to a careful analysis of

the remaining discrepancy, and hence to the identification of the chimney effect,

leaving our calculation with a value of zero for "other" heat losses.

2. Furnace Design^

The channel induction is shown schematically in Figure 1; Figures 2 and 3 are photographs of the particular unit we studied. The furnace is basically a large

cylinder lying horizontally, with the heating element attached at the bottom. The function

of the furnace is simply to hold iron in a liquid state until it is ready to pour into

castings. Molten iron is poured into the upper left of the furnace through a tube called

the "launder". The iron is held around 1425°C (2600°F) , just above its melting

temperature.

At the bottom of the furnace hangs an appendage known as the "channel". Liquid iron

is free to circulate through this channel, and an inductor is wound around it. Electrical

current flowing through the inductor dissipates energy as heat in the iron, thereby making

up for losses through the walls. Since the electrical coil is made of copper, additional

cooling is required to keep it far below the temperature of molten iron; this cooling is

provided by making the coil out of a hollow copper tube, and running water through it.

The water carries away about 120 kW, roughly half of the wattage required to run the

furnace.
Figure 3 shows that the upper right front of the furnace contains a pouring spout,

from which liquid iron is poured into castings by rotating the furnace slightly about its

principal axis. Figure 2 shows that the rear of the furnace contains two slag doors; just

before castings are to be poured, the furnace can be tipped the other way and slag poured

off the top of the iron.

The furnace has an outside diameter of 3.1 m (10.2 ft) and a length of 3.7 m (12.2 ft).

The total surface area is roughly 56 m2 (603 f t2) . The furnace holds about 50,000 kg

(55 tons) when filled reasonably near capacity, although the total inside volume is 10 m3. In the equilibrium or "holding" mode, this furnace is expected to draw 220 KW. Since our measurements were made on a day when the power was 255 kW, there is reason to believe that

the furnace was operating about 15% below the rated efficiency.

The furnace wall is 1/2 meter (19 inches) thick, comprising 3 courses of brick and a 3-cm-thick steel shell. There is one more layer of "insulation" that must be included:

the boundary layer of air surrounding the furnace, across which the temperature drops from

that of the steel shell to ambient conditions. Assuming a planar model, the equation for

the heat transfer q is^

q = AT (1)

J, +

_2 +_3 + _Ji + _ k

l k

2 k3 k

s h

o

where AT = T (iron) - T (ambient) jk^ denotes thermal conductivity, xi denotes thickness,

the subscripts 1, 2, 3 refer to the 3 layers of brick and s overall coefficient of heat-transfer away from the surface.the subscripts 1, 2, 3 refer to the 3 layers of brick and s refers to the steel; h is the

Knowing the thickness and thermal conductivity of each layer allows us to calculate

the heat flow rate q through the wall, and the temperature at any point within the wall.

The furnace walls have different kinds of insulating bricks above and below the metal level,

so an accurate calculation of the heat transfer requires the accumulation of separate

contributions from parts of the walls. Moreover, the various apertures (pouring spout,

slag doors, etc.) must have their heat loss accounted for as well.

The heat loss rate for this furnace depends primarily on the properties of the

insulating brick and is less sensitive to the properties of the other resistance terms. For example, the numerical values pertaining to the heat flow through the cylindrical

wall are:

. _ 2600°F - 86°F = 520 Btu/hr = 164Q y q " .543 + .477 + 3.478 + .004 + 0.333 sq ft ^j

The denominator contains 0.333 as the estimate for the thermal resistance term from the

surface to the surroundings, corresponding to the rough approximation h

Q = 3. The coefficient selected for the boundary layer lumps both radiative and convective heat losses

together, and this is a valid approximation in this range of temperatures. As temperature

rises, radiative losses vary as a T 4, while convective losses vary at (AT)^/3 over a wide range. Accordingly, we calculate that the radiation component increases by 100% as the wall temperature increases from 95° to 138°C (200°F-280°F) [assuming a 30°C (86°F)

ambient], while the convection component increases by 97% for the same change. If the

estimate of the overall heat-transfer coefficient were doubled or halved it would make

only about 6% difference in the heat flow.

What is actually taking place is that the hot iron drives a certain amount of heat

through the insulating bricks and presents it at the outer shell for disposal to the

surroundings. If due to obstacles, convection carries away only a little heat, the surface temperature will rise enough to dispose of more of the heat via radiation. If con- vection is made more important (as when a fan is blowing) , the surface temperature drops

and a smaller fraction of the total heat is radiated away.
A similar analysis can be carried out for the heat loss through the end caps of the

cylindrical furnace and through the inductor. The several contributions, each with different heat flow rates q corresponding to different insulation thicknesses, may then be

summed

.

The total heat loss according to this design calculation is 107 kW when the interior

iron is in equilibrium5 at 1425°C (2600°F) and the ambient is 26°C (78°F) . This loss is

only from convection and radiation by the furnace, and does not include heat carried away

by the water jacket surrounding the channel inductor.

The water jacket is a large heat sink for the furnace, typically 120 kW. In the

inductor itself, electricity is carried through hollow copper tubes, and water is run through the tubes to keep them cool; typical maximum water temperatures are 65°C (150°F)

,

thus indicating a gradient of some 1360°C (2450°F) across a few inches of insulation. The

water cooling includes a loop that runs around the bushing between the throat and the

inductor. In addition, another water line cools the launder (the charging tube) whenever

it is in place. The flow capacity of the water jacket permits the furnace to draw up to 580 kW without risk of damage.

The standard operating procedure is to fill the furnace via the launder, then remove

the launder and seal its opening. The slag doors should fit securely to minimize air

leakage. The pouring spout is normally not plugged, as there must be some escape route

for hot gases resulting from the combustion of carbon in the iron. In actual practice,

this furnace was generally operated with the launder left in the furnace opening, because

of the difficulty of moving it. Also, the slag doors were not always tightly shut. These

deviations from the design operating method are commonplace in the iron casting industry.

3. Infrared Thermographic Measurements

The channel induction furnace was surveyed on two separate occasions. In the

interim, the furnace interior lining and the channel inductor were replaced. Erosion of

the insulation in the channel is the most critical factor determining the need to rebuild

the furnace.

We used an AGA 680 "Thermovision" system for our measurements". This instrument

senses infrared radiation in the 3 to 5.6 um region of the spectrum, a range ideally

suited for temperatures typical of furnace walls (100 - 500°C) . The theory of infrared

measurements is covered elsewhere?. The same unit has been used previously to make

qualitative measurements of a variety of industrial targets^. Here our purpose was to .make quantitative measurements, specifically to determine the surface temperature from

measurements of the radiation detected by the thermographic scanner.

Figures 2-17 display visible and infrared images of various portions of this

furnace. It should be clearly understood that the infrared pictures are not taken by

using "infrared film" in a conventional camera. Rather, these are pictures of the screen

of a display monitor on which the electronic signal measured by the infrared scanner was projected; they are the equivalent of photographing a television screen.

It is appropriate here to explain how these pictures are used to determine

temperatures: Figure 3 shows the front of the furnace, the upper left quadrant of which

is very uniform in temperature. Just to the lower right of the F&E symbol, two small

temperature gauges were mounted (with magnets) on the furnace face. One of these guages

appear as a black circle in the lower right of Figure 4, which is the infrared image of the

upper left quadrant. These guages provide points of known temperature; hence the radiation

from any other point can be compared with the radiation from this point and the temperature

of the unknown point is determined by using the instrument calibration curves.

At the bottom of the infrared image is a color scale showing increasing temperatures

to the right. Using an electronic marker built into the display console, we could determine the intensity of any given spot with a precision of + 1% of full scale. Alternately,

we could set the marker to a desired intensity position on the calibrated scale and then

see on the display screen a contour of all points having that intensity. Using two such

markers, it was possible to set one marker so as to match the radiation from the point
where a thermometer was mounted, and then move the other marker up and down the scale to see contours of all other radiation intensities in the area of interest.

Figure 5 is a photograph showing the upper right quadrant of the front of the furnace,

which contains the pouring spout. Here a great deal of heat is being lost from the walls

of the spout and from the cylinder wall adjacent to the spout. Although the area is

relatively small, the temperatures are sufficiently high that these losses comprise a significant fraction of the total radiant heat loss, as shown in Table 1. There are hot

combustion gases escaping from the spout, so the radiation from that region is so intense

as to be off-scale in the thermal image of Figure 6. Figure 7 shows the same infrared

view, but with the overall intensity reduced by changing the f/stop on the thermographic

scanner. This brings all regions of the spout except the flame itself down within the

range of the scale, thus allowing temperature determinations to be made. Of course, the

cooler regions of the surface can no longer be so finely resolved in temperature in Figure

7. Therefore, whenever a wide range of temperatures is studied, we use a combination of scanner and display settings to generate a series of pictures akin to Figures 6 and 7.

The lower left quadrant of the furnace front is shown in Figure 8. The dark bars are simply a railing which is in the foreground of the picture. One interesting feature of

Figure 8 is the hot spot at the bottom of the furnace, at a point right below where the

launder tube dumps fresh iron into the furnace. On the basis of the mass of molten iron

normally present, and considering the thickness of insulation in the cylinder wall, we would not expect to see a significant temperature rise at that point. The infrared display suggests that possibly there are cracks between the insulating bricks, which permit

molten iron to come closer to the steel casing then called for in the design. These may

have resulted during charging, when the hot molten iron impinges on the empty cylinder.

During the rebuild period, visual inspection of the inside lining did not provide any clear

evidence of cracks. The hot spot was seen during plant visits both before and after

rebuild.

Figure 9 shows the lower right quadrant of the front of the furnace. The bottom of

the spout area is visible, as is the throat leading to the inductor coil. Because of the

circulating flow of iron, this region has higher erosion than any other. To help minimize

the damage due to heat dissipated in the throat area, a water cooling coil is wrapped once around the throat bushing.

The channel inductor coil appears in Figure 10. The arrangement of platform, etc. made this the only view of this section that could be obtained with the thermographic

imaging system. Here we found a significant before-and-af ter difference. Prior to the

rebuild, surface temperatures of up to 357°C (675°F) occured on parts of the inductor

surface, based on analysis of the radiation intensity of Figure 11. After renovation,

including the installation of a new channel inductor, the hottest temperature was 268°C

(515°F), at about the same position8. In any case, it is clear that despite its small

area, (4.5m2, 48.8 ft2) , radiation cooling from the inductor must be included in any

comprehensive series of measurements.

The back of the furnace is shown thermographically in Figures 12, 13, and 14. Figure

2 is the corresponding photograph. The cool vertical stripes in Figure 12 are a water

jacket not in use and compressed air lines. The slag doors on the left (Figure 13) and

right (Figure 14) were not tightly sealed, and appreciable heat leaked out through their

ports. In particular, one prominent loss mechanism was that radiation from the liquid

iron reached the surface of the doors and was reflected downward to the bottom of the slag

port, where it was again reflected out into the room. In Figure 2 the visible glow coming

from below the left slag door supports this mechanism. It is noteworthy that while the

thermographic data gives only a qualitative measurement of this multiple-reflection heat

loss, the size of the opening indicated by it proves to be crucial when calculating the

"chimney effect" in section 7.

Finally, the ends of the cylinder were also measured. Figure 15 is a photograph of

the end near the pouring spout, and Figure 16 is the corresponding thermogram. This end

contains a "cold charging door" as its hottest surface. The supporting structure for the

furnace-rotating mechanism partially obscures the view of the end of the furnace.

Moreover, a nearby wall made it impossible to get the thermographic imager into position
for a head-on view of the end. As a result, the determination of temperature for this

surface is heavily dependent upon interpolation of data from other adjacent surfaces in

addition to the data derived from Figure 16.

The opposite end, through which the liquid iron enters via a "launder" inserted in

the "hot charging door", is shown in Figure 17. Again, the supporting structure obscures

the view. The intense glow coming from the ring around the launder indicates the presence

of a direct uninsulated pathway into the molten metal. Also, a blast of hot

air could be felt by climbing up on the supporting structure and standing near the launder

aperture. Here thermography does not give a numerical measurement of the heat escaping,

but it points to a problem area. • Then further study leads to a reasonably accurate

quantitative calculation of the loss, as will be shown in section 7.

4. Radiant Heat Loss

The data collected by the infrared thermographic imager need to be converted from the

units of intensity in which they are displayed to the temperature of the emitting surface.

Once the temperature is known at every point, it is a simple calculation to estimate the

total radiation loss from the surface.

A. Temperature Map

The manufacturer of this system (AGA Corp.) provides typical calibration curves to relate their output scale (expressed in "Isotherm Units") to the temperature of the radiating surface. One typical curve is given in Figure 18. These curves are not simply graphs

of aT^; because of the limited bandpass of the Indium Antimonide (InSb) detector, they

represent a more complicated integral over frequency of the Planck function times the

detector response. These curves are generally determined empirically at the time of manufacture. Figure 18 shows the empirical curves as solid lines and the theoretical overlap

integrals as dashed lines.

We have calibrated our instrument and found that AGA's typical calibration curves are quite close to ours. Therefore, we used these curves to convert the data to temperature

maps. The procedure for doing so relies on knowing a reference temperature within the

range of sensitivity of the thermographic system. This was normally accomplished by

magnetically attaching a thermometer to the surface within the field of view and comparing

camera readings at other points to the reference point.

The radiance leaving a surface is composed of emitted and reflected energy. The

reflected energy includes components originating from objects elsewhere in the room; fortunately most of these objects are at ambient temperature. Recalling that, for an opaque surface, reflectance r is related to emittance e through e+r = 1, our task is to isolate the emitted component of radiation and thence determine the true surface temperature. The camera viewing a location with a known reference temperature Tr will have a measured signal I r

. When another nearby location of unknown temperature is observed, its

measured signal will be I u

. We denote the difference by AIur = I u-I r

. If the two locations are on the same surface with the same apparent surface conditions, it is reasonable to assume their emittances (or reflectances), are the same. Now if we further assume

that the radiation reflected from both locations is the same, then the radiance at the

location of the unknown temperature is given by

Iu

= Ir + AIur /e (2)

The imaging system contains an arbitrary zero shifting control (known as a "picture

black level" knob) which allows the observer to change the displayed signal from both

reference and unknown locations by a constant. In order to determine an unknown temperature, this constant must be eliminated. We standardize I r from the calibration curve of

Figure 18, (given a measurement of Tr ) and then measure A

ur using the Thermovision. We

then determine Iu using Eq. (2) and finally obtain the unknown temperature Tu from the

calibration curve using this value of l u . This procedure is repeated for each point of

interest on the surface of the furnace.
It is a key assumption here that the reflected radiation field is the same at both

locations. Clearly this requires judicious selection of the points of study so that the

reference and the unknown temperature locations see similar radiation environments.

One area of uncertainty in determining the temperature from a radiation measurement

is the question of how well the emittance e is known. For this furnace, we use an emittance of e = 0.90, owing to the dusty and mottled appearance of the painted steel shell^

.

Arguments could be constructed to favor e = .85 or e = .95, so our choice of e = 0.90 is

a compromise. Incidentally, if there are two different points of known temperature on the

surface being observed, both I u and I r can be obtained from the calibration chart, and

Eq. (2) can be solved instead for the emittance e.

After calibration of all the thermograms a mosaic was constructed to cover most of

the surface of the furnace. Missing pieces were then interpolated and an overall temperature map was reconstructed. Figure 19 is our final temperature map of the front of the

furnace. The vast majority of the area is near 93°C (200°F) . The channel inductor and

the spout display some sharp temperature gradients. Most of the features were discussed

in section 3 above. The error bracket on these temperature measurements can generally be

taken as 8°C (15°F)

.

Figure 20 is the temperature map of the back of the furnace. Leakage above and

below the slag doors are an important cause of heat loss here. The very cool region

(<70°C) just below each door is a lip protruding from the cylinder which allows the slag

to run off and be collected. The lower rear of the furnace was obstructed from view by a platform, thus preventing us from getting a rear view of the channel inductor.

Temperature maps (not shown in this report) were also made of the ends of the

furnace. The temperatures determined from these regions have greater uncertainties, due

to the many obstruction of the view. While the external surface of these obstructions

appear cool to our scanner, the unseen inner surface reflects heat back to the furnace

wall; and therefore it reaches some intermediate temperature. We have not analyzed how

such conditions affect heat loss, but qualitatively any re-radiation from an obstruction

back toward the furnace will reduce heat flow.

B. Total Emitted Radiation

When the temperature is known everywhere, it is possible to calculate the radiant

heat loss from each point, and sum up the contributions. However, there are several

points requiring care:

First, the thermographic pictures show a cylinder on its side. To obtain the true area of any surface element, it is necessary to invert the projection that occured when

the original data was taken. We do so with the aid of Figure 21, an equal-area

map of a cylinder: each rectangle has the same area (0.09m2 or 1.0 ft^) in

this figure. in this way, the less visible areas near the bottom of the furnace are assigned proper weighting in the calculation of emitted radiation. For this particular

furnace, the only place this makes any difference is at the warm spot at the bottom left

(Figure 8).

Second, the emittance is normally assumed to be the same for the total radiation

(over all wavelengths) as it was for the measured radiation (over the detector' bandpass) . In our case, the value e = 0.90 was used again. This assumption amounts to calling the

furnace a perfect "graybody", ignoring any wavelength-dependence of the surface emittance

or reflectance.

Third, the furnace is radiating into surroundings of about 32°C (90°F) and that

background radiation must be taken into account. If we consider the room to be isothermal

at the ambient temperature Too, then the radiative loss per unit area is:

q = e a [T

4 - T4

] (3)
Again, we require the surface to be convex or planar so that only interchange with the

surrounding walls of the building occurs. We have also assumed diffuse scattering,

which is reasonable for the rough and dirty surfaces found on the industrial furnace.

With these provisos, the temperature maps generated above in section 4. A were

converted to heat-loss maps by straightforward application of Eq. (3) on a point-by-point

basis. Table I and Table II are summaries of the contributions from the various surfaces.

The total heat loss by radiation was calculated to be approximately 53 kW. The error- bracket estimates of + 8°C on each temperature translate into an error-bracket of + 6 kW

on this total. Incidentally, an error of + 1°C in ambient temperature contributes only

+0.3 kW to the uncertainty in the total radiation loss.

5. Convective Heat Transfer

The convective heat loss of the channel inductance furnace can also be calculated

knowing the surface temperature together with the ambient conditions. The furnace is

basically a free standing cylinder with minor perturbations. In order to calculate the

heat loss by convection, two parallel approaches were used: free convection; and forced

convection over the hot end, combined with free convection for the balance.

A.' Free Convection

The heat transfer by free convection was calculated by summing the heat loss from the

various areas of the cylinder at their respective temperatures according to the following

relationship:

Q = / h A. AT., (4) x / j c 1 1

where A-^ are elements of the area, and AT-^ is temperature difference of each area from

ambient. The film coefficient h c can be found rigorously using the relationship between

Nusselt, Grashof and Prandtl numbers for a horizontal cylinder^:

h

NNUk

, (5)

c

~ D

o

where

^ = 0.13 [NGR

N

pR

1/3

for X °

9

< NGR

NPR < 10U

and D

3

p 2

6 g (AT) N

o GR=

y

2

Cj

NPR

S

k
3 coefficient of thermal expansion ; 1/T00 Cp = specific heat of air = 0.24 cal/g °C 0.24 Btu/lbm °F

k = thermal conductivity = .029 watt/m °C

0.0167 Btu/hr ft °F

3

p = air density = 1.048 kg/m = 0.0654 lbm/ft"

g = gravitational constant = 9.8 m/s2 4.17 x 10

8 ft/hr

2

D = furnace diameter = 3.1 m = 10.2 ft

u = viscosity of air = 2 x 10~ kg/s m

0.0484 lb/hr ft

Although the above technique permits a full understanding of the pertinent parameters,

it was not used. A simplified method derived from empirical data in McAdamsll was used to calculate hc on horizontal cylinders. For D3AT > 10 2

, the collected coefficients reduce

(in English units) to 0.19, and we find

h

c = 0.19 AT1 / 3 . (6)

This expression is also correct for vertical plates (such as the furnace end cap) whenever

L3 AT > 103 , L being the characteristic dimension.

The local temperature for each area was obtained from Figures 19 - 21 and used to construct ATj[ in each area zone A-^. Table III enumerates the individual contributions to the summation [Eq. (4)], and summarizes the free convection heat loss. The heat transfer

from the cylinder (16 kW) dominates, with the end plates contributing 9.2 kW and the

inductor- throat combination adding 4.6 kW, bringing the total free-convection heat loss to 29.7 kW.

It is interesting to compare this result with a rough estimate based on treating the

entire furnace as if it had one single average temperature, such that (AT)„V„ = 78°C = 140°F. Then with a total area of 56 m2 = 604 ft 2 , we obtain h c = .99 and Q = 24.5 kW.

This is about 18% lower than the result obtained by using the temperature maps.

B. Forced Convection

The forced convection was driven by a large fan which generated a velocity of about

16 m/s (53 ft/s) at a rectangular opening in the wall near the inductor; the wind

speed slowed as the air flowed over the inductor coil and over 20% of the cylinder.

Only the roughest estimate could be made for the average air velocity at the cylinder

surface. The forced-convection heat transfer was calculated for the part of the

cylinder nearest to the inductor. We used an average air velocity of 7 m/s over a 1.3 m (4 ft) length of the cylinder.

Here the film coefficient is dependent on the properties of the fluid; the equation

for forced convection takes the form

NNU

=F (NRE' N

PR} '

RE ~ ~ i n air delivered by the fan. For a variety of cylindrical geometries xu , the equivalent of

Eq. (5) is
h r D

f o (^ (¥)° = a ^ -^ , (7)

where a, b and c are empirical constants, U is the air velocity, and the remaining

symbols are as defined after Eq. (5). In the special case of room temperature air incident upon a very large horizontal cylinder, the best fit to empirical data^ gives a = .027, b = .8, c = 1/3, and (Cp u/k) = NpR = .692. It follows at once that

h, = .0239 k (p/y)'

8 U"8 /D' 2 (8)

r o

The average temperature of the air film in the region where forced convection occurs is

estimated to be 107°C (225°F). Inserting appropriate numerical values, together with our average velocity estimate of 7 m/s (83,000 ft/hr) into Eq. (8), we find

hf = 2.4 Btu/ft2 hr °F. (9)

Therefore, in the area washed by the fan (at an average speed of 7 m/s), the film coefficient is about twice the coefficient for natural convection hc

. Since the area is

approximately 20% of the total area, the total heat loss by convection is increased 20%.

If we replaced each pertinent value of h c

i-n Table III with the forced-convection value

hf = 2.4, we could create the appearance of greater precision. However, doing so would

conceal the great uncertainty in air velocity at various points washed by the fan. For

the inductor/throat assembly, our model suggest an additional 4.5 kW of heat carried away

under forced convection; it is conservative to estimate an additional 1.6 kW blown away

from the cylinder and spout area due to the fan. These increases bring the total con- vective heat loss to about 36 kW. Our estimate of the overall uncertainty in this figure

is + 7 kW.

6. Water Cooling

Water cooling is the largest category of heat losses from the furnace. It was disappointing to find that the measurement of these losses was so difficult that a + 30kW

error bracket had to be placed upon the data. Since the total water heat loss was approximately 120 kW this range amounted to + 25%, and proved to be the dominant source

of uncertainty in the entire heat balance of the furnace.

The rate of flow of water is simple to measure with 3-place accuracy, using a bucket

and stopwatch at the drain of each cooling line. Similarly, the temperature of the

water at the inlet and drain can be easily measured with a thermometer. The weakness in

this procedure is that the temperatures so measured are not necessarily the temperatures

of the water bef ore-and-af ter cooling the furnace: Between the inlet and the furnace is over 10 meters of various hoses and exposed copper pipe that run near the furnace, in

front of the fan, and over supporting structures; from the furnace to the final outlet

drain a similar system of hoses and pipes exists.

In order to obtain truly accurate temperature measurements, it would have been

necessary to attach thermocouples to the cooling lines just as they entered and left the

furnace. It was not possible to do this while the furnace was in operation. Accordingly,

the temperature measurements are uncertain to the extent that the cooling water was preheated enroute to the furnace or cooled by the fan enroute to the drain. For these flow

rates,. 55°C (1°F) temperature error corresponds to 3 kW in heat transfer.
As mentioned in section 2 (Furnace Design), the design parameters call for 120kW

of heat removal by the cooling streams, which include 5 separate lines: The induction

coil itself, which is a current-carrying copper tube with water running through it; two cooling lines around the bushing (the junction between furnace and the appended coil); and

two cooling lines around the launder (the filling tube entering the top side of the

furnace)

.

On a separate occasion from our thermographic scan, the furnace was running at an input of 470 kW, a very high heating rate near its design limit. Under those circumstances, the water flow rate and temperature ddta displayed in Table IV were collected.

Given the flow rates and the temperatures at the drains, together with an inlet water

temperature of 13°C (55°F) , it was simple to calculate the total "heat transfer". But the

vagaries of water pre-heating and post-cooling discussed above were still present.

The projection from this data of Table IV to the actual conditions occurring during

our thermographic scan (255 kW input) is carried out by making use of two formulas supplied by the furnace manufacturer. The electrical losses in the coil are given by

Q = .015 kVA (10)

in the bushing, the total heat loss is given by

Q = 20 + .01 kVA. (11)

These formulas represent Inductotherm's experience over a group of several furnaces of the same design, and are therefore entirely adequate within the error limits imposed by the

uncertainties in water temperatures.

The factor kVA denotes kilovoltamps, which differs from power (P) by a phase factor

<t> , through the relation

P(kW) = kVA cos <j>. (12)

The phase factor at the time of the 470 kW operation was cos cj> = .49, which implies that

kVA = 960 kilovoltamps. Therefore electrical losses in the bushing were 9.6kW and in

the coil they were 14.4 kW. These numbers appear in the column labeled "electrical" in

Table IV. By substracting them from the column labeled "heat transfer" we have constructed

the column labeled "thermal".

Our estimates of the water cooling load when the furnace was running at 255kW (on

the occasion when Figures 4 to 13 were obtained) were made by utilizing these split

electrical and thermal losses corrected for the changed conditions. Since these measurements were taken just after the furnace was rebuilt, the standard formula was used for

the bushing, with 20 kW thermal loss assigned to it. The phase factor on that day was

cos <j) = .46, so at 255 kW input we obtain kVA = 554. This immediately gives electrical

heat losses of 5.54 kW for the bushing and 8.3 kW for the coil. These are given in the

first data column of Table V.

There was no rebuilding or other change in the launder, so the earlier figure of

54.6 kW from Table IV was retained for that thermal loss. The thermal loss from the

throat was reduced slightly from the prior determination of 35.6kW in Table IV: we reasoned that if the thermal loss from the throat diminished upon rebuilding from 21.8 to 20kW, the thermal loss from the bushing should decline by the same ratio (.917); on

that grounds the entry in Table V for the rebuilt case is 32.7 = 35.6 x .917.

The total heat loss estimate is thus 121 kW which is very close to the design value

of 120 kW As mentioned above, it carries an uncertainty of + 30 kW.

10
7. Infiltration Losses

Heat losses from furnaces are also generated by air infiltration and exhaust. These

losses are driven by the draft due to height differences of various leaks and are sometimes called chimney losses. An estimate of these losses can be made knowing the amount,

temperature, and specific heat of the gas escaping the top hole. In the case of the inductance furnace, two critical holes are present which are the principal cause of infiltration losses. The upper hole is an annulus approximately 1.3 cm (1/2 in) across on the

outside of a 35 cm (14 in) diameter pipe (approximately 140 cm2 = .153 ft2) ; the lower

holes at the slag door seals totals 100 cm2 (.10 ft2) in area. Since the volume of gas

leaving the upper hole at 1425°C (2600°F) is several times as great as the volume entering

at room temperature, the upper hole size limits the rate of flow.

The mass flow rate m can be approximated using an expression found in Schuhman-^.

This is an analog of Ohm's law in which the flow rate equals the driving force divided

by the resistance; the driving force is determined by the gravitational potential energy

of the column of hot gas, and the resistance term corresponds to the kinetic energy dissipated as the gas passes through the hole. We have:

m = 2ACgpAP; or (13a)

= 10.4ACgpAd. (13b)

In this expression, the geometrical hole area A is reduced by a "coefficient of

discharge" C = 0.95; g is the gravitational constant, 9.8 m/s2 = 32.16 ft/s~; p is

the density of air at the high temperature, 0.03 lbs/ft3; and AP or Ad represent the

pressure differential. When AP is expressed in lbs/in2, the numerical coefficient to convert units is 2; when AP is replaced by Ad expressed in inches of water, the numerical

coefficient is 10.4. Adhering to metric units would merely change the numerical coefficient, if one were to express furnace draft in units of pascals.

According to the Marks Handbook-^, the draft differential per foot of column height

is 0.0116 when the hot column is 2600°F and the ambient column is 80°F. In that case the

pressure differential becomes

Ad = .0116 x 2.5 = .04 (inches water), (14)

for the 2.5 foot height difference between the furnace openings. Collecting all the

numbers and inserting them into Eq. (13b), we find

m = .153 x .05 x 10.4 x 32.16 x .04 x .03

= .058 lbs/sec = .027 kg/s

= 210 lbs/hr = 95.5 kg/hr. (15)

The heat flow via infiltration is then immediately calculated using the specific heat of

air and the change in temperature.

Q = C m AT = 0.24 x 210 x 2500

= 126,000 Btu/hr

= 37 kW (16)

Although this seems remarkably large, it was later verified when the method of filling

the furnace was changed, the launder tube was scrapped, and the launder hole permanently

sealed. This caused a sharp drop in the required holding power of the furnace by 30 kW.

Considering the precision of our estimates of area, this agreement is remarkable.

Therefore, we have designated the value of + 10 kW as the uncertaintly on our estimate of

the infiltration losses.

11
8. Summary

Infrared thermography was used to measure the surface temperatures of a channel

inductance furnace. This information was used to perform a heat balance on the furnace,

which includes calculations of all heat losses as well as the energy input. The results were compared to a theoretical heat balance accompanying the design of the furnace; that

heat balance was based on using accepted values for the thermal conductivity of the walls.

The design heat balance is comparable to the operational heat balance; however, the design

heat balance does not include infiltration losses which result from leaks at different

levels in the furnace. The water jacket losses are a separate question: remember that

safety is the prime consideration of the design, while determination of actual energy

consumption is the object of the operational heat balance.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the capabilities of using infrared

thermography to perform such a heat balance. A secondary purpose was to determine the

actual heat balance, and to find problems in design or operation of these furnaces which

can be corrected to save energy.

The steps in the heat balance included calculating: (1) radiation heat losses from

the surface, (2) convective heat losses, (3) water jacket losses, and (4) infiltration or "chimney" losses. Each component of heat loss was found by combining infrared or other

measurements with engineering approximations of parameters which were difficult to measure rigorously. Figure 22 is a bar chart presenting these calculations. They sum to 246 kW. Estimates of the precision of these results, given individually in the text, were

summed randomly to give an overall uncertainty of + 33kW.

We conclude that, using infrared thermography, a surface temperature map of the

furnace can be made with sufficient accuracy so that radiative heat losses are not the

principal limitation on accuracy of the total heat balance. However, this whole experiment was part of a learning curve on how to obtain the best measurements. We are confident that subsequent studies will profit from the experience.

The other benefits of the thermographic study include the identification of flaws in

the heat confinement of the furnace. This can be done on a qualitative basis; it leads

to significant improvements in the performance of the furnace, as has been found on previous studies.

Acknowledgement

We are very grateful to Clay Scarborough for his extensive and thorough analysis of

the thermographic data, and for his model of the convection process.

12
REFERENCES

1. Levinstein, H. and Mudar, J., "Infrared Detectors in Remote Sensing", IEEE Proceedings, Jan. 1975.

2. NBS Technical Note 923, "Applications of Thermography for Energy Conservation in

Industry", C.W. Hurley and K.G. Kreider, October 1976.

3. The numerical calculations in this section have been provided by Mr. C. Mason,

Vice President of Inductotherm Corporation, Rancocas, New Jersey. The reader should

be aware that the National 'Bureau of Standards does not endorse one furnace

manufacturer over another, and the choice of Inductotherm for this study should not

be construed as such.

4. F. Kreith, "Principles of Heat Transfer", Second Edition, International Textbook

Co. (Scranton, PA: 1965).

5. Here we assume the charge of molten iron neither absorbs nor gives off heat, but

stays at a constant temperature.

6. This does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of this single manufacturer.

7. Handbook of Military Infrared Technology, W. L. Wolfe, ed. , pub. by U.S. Government

Superintendent of Documents (Washington, D.C.: 1965).

8. This suggests that infrared thermography could be used to give advance warning of

when the channel inductor needs to be replaced.

9. Thermo physical Properties of Matter (The TRP Data Series), Vol. 9, Thermal Radiative

Properties-Coatings, Y.S. Touloukian, D.P. DeWitt and R.S. Hervicz, Eds., Plenum

Pub. Co. (New York: 1972).

10. Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers, Seventh Edition, T. Baumeister and

L.S. Marks, Eds., McGraw-Hill (New York: 1967).

11. W.H. McAdams, Heat Transmission , McGraw-Hill (New York: 1954).

12. Metallurgical Engineering, R. Schuhman, Addison Wesley, (Cambridge, MA: 1952).

13
TABLE I

Radiation Heat Loss for Individual Areas

Q = acA(T^ - T^ ) where a = 5.6687 x 10"8 W/m2 K*, T^ = 32°C, e = .9

Surface

Region T°C (T4-T4)

xlO-10

A(m2

) Q (watts)

Front:

Spout Area 120 1.5220

M it 147 2.2490

it ii 175 3.1665

ii ii 190 3.7342

ii ti 2 75 8.1610

ii ii 1500 987.64

1.293

.744

.093

.056

.205

.009

1004

854

150

107

854

4535

Inductor Junction

183 3.4623

11 II 210 4.5820

II II 225 5.2909

Sum

Bottom Hot Spot 138 1.9905

ii ii ii 127 1.6967

ii ii ii 113 1.3563

Sum

.070

.023

.019

2.512

.205

.247

.307

.759

124

54

51

7733

208

214

212

634

Remaining Area 93

Total Front

9303 14.869

18.14

7057

15424

Back:

A. Visible Area

Doors 132 1.8273

ii 157 2.5565

ii 214 4.7647

ii 203 4.2730

ii 174 3.1306

ii 189 3.6946

ii 223 5.1926

ii

ii 247

256

6.4529

6.9729

Sum

Remaining Visible 93

Total Visible

,9303

3.488

1.284

.037

.279

.149

.093

.102

.112

.093

5.637

7.494

13.131

3252

1675

90

608

238

175

270

369

331

7008

3557

10565

14
B. Hidden Area (Treat as Front)

Inductor Junction

i: ii 147 2 2490

ii ii 183 3 4623

ii ii 210 4 5820

ii ii 225 5 2909

Warm Area 120 1 5520

Bottom Hot Spot 138 1 9905

ii 11 it 127 1 6967

ii it ii 113 1 3563

Sum

Remaining Hidden Area

93 .9303

Total Hidden

Total Back

Charging End:

Launder Ring 300

Door 200

300

Remaining Area 100

Sum

9.9242

4.1447

9.9242

1.0717

.205

.070

.023

.019

.419

.205

.247

.307

1.495

3.728

5.223

18.35

.555

,888

,222

,886

7.55

235

124

54

51

332

208

214

212

1430

1769

3199

13764

2810

1878

1124

3218

9030

Wall End:

Door

Door Frame

Structure

Remaining Area

Sum

252

235

210

182

136

77

6.7385

5.8005

4.5820

3.4056

1.9353

.6304

.04

.14

.37

.37

3.77

2.86

7.55

137

414

865

643

3722

920

6701

Inductor:

120

268

250

230

206

175

230

206

Remaining Area 175

Sum

Grand Total of Furnace

Rim

Front Face

Side of Coils

1.5520

7.7086

6.6233

5.5419

4.4038

3.1665

5.5419

4.4038

3.1665

.484

.093

.047

.047

.047

1.126

.186

.205

2.306

4.54

56.13 m2

383

366

157

132

104

1819

526

461

3726

7674

52593

15
TABLE II

Summary of Radiation Heat Losses

(English Units)

Location Area (ft2)

Front:

Spout Area 27.0

Bottom Hot Spot 8.2

Remaining Area 159.8

Back:

A. Visible 141.2

B. Hidden 56.2

Charging End: 81.1

Wall End: 81.1

Inductor: 48.8

Grand Total 603.4

Q (Btu/hr)

26,385

2,163

24,078

36,048

10,915

30,810

22,864

26,184

179,447

16
Cylinder

T(°C) AT(°C)

93 61

113 81

120 88

127 95

132 100

138 106

147 115

157 125

175 143

183 151

190 158

203 171

210 178

214 182

225 193

250 218

275 243

1500 1468

TABLE III

Free Convection Heat Losses

Q = h c A AT

AT = T - T^ and T^ = 32 °C

h

c = 0.19 (AT)l/3

AT(°F) h c

110 .91

146 1.00

158 1.03

171 1.05

180 1.07

191 1.09

207 1.12

225 1.16

257 1.21

272 1.23

284 1.25

308 1.28

320 1.30

328 1.31

347 1.34

392 1.39

437 1.44

2642 2.63

Area (ft2) Q (Btu/hr)

280.5 28027

6.6 962

18.4 2996

5.3 952

37.5 7241

4.4 915

10.2 2365

13.8 3588

2.6 809

1.5 502

1.6 569

3.0 1185

0.5 208

0.4 172

1.5 698

2.2 1200

2.2 1386

0.1 694

392.3 54469

17
Charging End.

100 68 122 .94

200 168 302 1.28

300 268 482 1.49

Wall End

77 45 81 .82

136 104 187 1.09

182 150 270 1.23

210 178 320 1.30

235 203 365 1.36

252 220 396 1.40

63.3 7309

9.5 3664

8.4 6038

81.2 17011

30.7 2044

40.5 8240

4.0 1326

4.0 1666

1.5 745

0.4 221

81.1 14242

Inductor:

210 88 158 1.03

175 143 257 1.21

206 174 313 1.29

230 198 356 1.35

250 218 392 1.39

268 236 425 1.43

5.2 847

36.9 11480

2.7 1091

2.5 1200

0.5 273

1.0 868

48.8 15759

Total Convection

54469 + 17011 + 14242+ 15759 = 101481 Btu/hr

= 29.74 kW

18
TABLE IV Cooling Water Measurements

Furnace running at 470 kW, T (input) = 55°F*

Place Gallons/Min Tout (

156

5 F) AT

101

Heat Transfer

(kW) Elec.+ Thermal

3 3/8 50.0 14.4 35.6

5 5/8 74 19 15.67)

5 1/8 76 21 15.77J

9.6 21.8

3 3/8 108 53 26.2

|

4 4/8 98 43 28.4 ) 54.6

Coil & throat

Bushing #1

Bushing #2

Launder //l

Launder #2

Total

Conversion factors: 1 gal/minute = 500.4 lbs/hour

3412 Btu/hr = 1 kW

136.0 24.0 112.0

*For these flow rates, 1°F makes 3 kW difference.

+The "Electrical" column was generated using Eqs . (10) - (12)

Coil

Throat

Bushing

Launder

Total

TABLE V

Water Jacket Losses

Estimated for 225 kW Operation of Furnace

Elec.

8.3

5.54

Thermal Heat Transfer (kW)

32.7

20

54.6

8.3

32.7

25.5

54.6

121.1

19
CHANNEL INDUCTION FURNACE

CHARGING

LAUNDER

POURING

SPOUT

FRONT VIEW

INDUCTION

CHANNEL

COLD

CHARGING

DOOR

SLAG

DOORS

REAR VIEW

Figure 1. Sketch of Channel Induction Furnace

20
Figure 2. Photograph of Back of Furnace

Figure 3. Photograph of Front of Furnace

21
Figure 4. Thermogram of Upper Left Quadrant of Furnace Front

Figure 5. Photograph of Upper Right Quadrant of Furnace Front,

22
Figure 6. Thermogram of Upper Right Quadrant Using Camera

Settings of f/3.6 and sensitivity = 500.

Figure 7. Thermogram of Upper Right Quadrant Using Camera

Settings of f/7.2 and sensitivity = 500.

23
Figure 8. Thermogram of Lower Left Quadrant of Furnace Front.

The view is partially obstructed by a railing, but

there is a "hot spot" visible at the furnace bottom.

Figure 9. Thermogram of Lower Right Quadrant of Furnace Front.

24
^rV|^^

i i ^3b

*» id

l - hIbIbHI

^^^sK Si

Figure 10. Photograph of Inductor and Throat Appendage to Furnace.

Figure 11. Thermogram of Inductor and Throat

25
Figure 12. Thermogram of Center of Furnace Back.

Figure 13. Thermogram of Left Side of Furnace Back.

The "isotherm" bars are in use here.

26
Figure 14. Thermogram of Right Side of Furnace Back
Figure 15. Photograph of side of furnace nearest the pouring spout. A building wall

prevented positioning the camera to get a head-on-view of this surface.

Figure 16. Thermogram of "wall side" shown in Figure 15,

28
Figure 17. Photograph of "charging side" of furnace, showing launder (filling chute)

present at opening in upper part of wall.

29
ooo

+

o

CO

I

CO -C

o

c

o

CD

>-, .Q

o•"cuo

'o.

CO

H>

> ^v

s \\

^s

\

V\ — W

Ilpp* *-^.<,i ' f i ^

:,*~ ,"i^^s**>*.^

^_^Si»

,

i i i ! :

' i

! W

i . i .

1 !

!

I |

1 in. F i,

j yi«tf

^ ^V i

• 3~TMi..

^

[ (

::: O l>UJ *< X (/) o =

i i 1 i TV .1

J

i H i

! t 1

i v>

* 'M;

:

\ 1 ! I

i —

. :4 i^>

S j

j

1 II 1 I

i \msm\

I

i | 1 j * I

1 vi

iiip ! 1

: *

1 1 i f- l —

i

i —miip-J m.

ff\ _ \U CO J£r W H CO "<£ •h cfl • C CJ i-H 3 -H \U H-i B cu u e • HI 3 C

J= 3 O M -H O •• 4J

CO CO O

•H CU C

= C 3

•H <4-i C .H H ^

T3 O

T3 01 C

0) J3 cfl CO CO i-H W Cfl P-| 0) Q

J-l CO a, cu x • e • OJ cfl -H CO

4-1 4J S-l

cfl cfl oi 4J xi cu 6

CO CO CO t3 >, a o o M o

o 4-1 O <X O U 4-1 CO -H z

QJ O 0) J3 " > co t-4 a, C <4-i CO O M u

UI O < O WJ

<r O 4-1 O

o <: o e

4-1 Q) U

t- 4-1 01 < T3 •• OI ,J3 oc

CU CO 13 4-1 CO 01 3 C <4-i m 0. •H O O 5

4J t-l U JZ 60

CO 4-> C (- £ T3 M-H

CJ -H C 4-1 iH 01 4-1 fi Or! 0) O CO 0) CO •H >

4-1 CO 0) CO • S U

U Q) 3

,n t-i w 4J •H 3 0) M

r-l 4J > 01

cO CO O CX U S-4 cfl 0) t-l m a. cfl co

cfl e >-i cu o cu ao 4J •H 4-1 01 O

D. 4J C

t^ O C 01 H 4-J -H T3

OlM

3

oo

•H

30
TEMPERATURE MAP (°C)

93

INDUCTOR FURNACE

FRONT ELEVATION

Figure 19. Temperature Map of Furnace Front.

TEMPERATURE MAP (°C)

REAR ELEVATION

! L.

A> INDUCTOR FURNACE

I I .-J I

I

Figure 20. Temperature Map of Furnace Back.

31
EQUAL AREA PROJECTION MAP

EACH RECTANGLE = 1 SQUARE FOOT

Figure 21. Equal-area chart used' in conjunction with temperature

maps to determine areas contributing to total heat loss

calculation. Each rectangle equals one square foot.

HEAT BALANCE ON A CHANNEL INDUCTOR FURNACE

CHIMNEY

CONVECTION

RADIATION

WATER JACKET

INPUT ENERGY

OUTPUT ENERGY

255 KILOWATTS

RADIATION CHIMNEY CONVECTION WATER JACKET

53 KW 37 KW 36 KW 121 KW

Figure 22. Sketch of furnace and bar chart to show cumulative heat

loss by radiation, convection, conduction, and chimney

effects.

32
NBS-U4A (REV. 9-76)

U.S. DEPT. OF COMM. BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA

SHEET

1. PUBLICATION OR REPORT NO. NBS TN 1129

2, Gov't Accession No, 3. ffecie*ettt' $ Accession Wo,

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

Use of Infrared Thermography for Industrial Heat

Balance Calculations

5. Publication Date July 1980

t Organization Code

7. AUTHOR(S)

Kenneth G. Kr eider and Thomas P. Sheahen

8. Performing Organ. Report No.

1 ' » 9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

WASHINGTON, DC 20234

IS. Project/Fask/Worfc Unit No.

11. Contract/Grant No.

12. SPONSORING ORGANIZATION NAME AND COMPLETE ADDRESS (Street, City, state, ZIP)

Same as item 9.

13. Type of Report & Period Covered Final

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

15. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

|

| Document describes a computer program; SF-185, FIPS Software Summary, is attached.

16. ABSTRACT (A 200-word or less factual summary of most significant information. If document includes a significant bibliography or

literature survey, mention it here.)

Infrared thermography has been used to estimate the radiant heat loss from a channel induction furnace containing molten iron. Using this infrared data, the

surface temperature was mapped and the convective heat loss was calculated on the

basis of a mixed forced and free-convection model. Additional calculations were

performed to include the heat conducted away through a water jacket, and the heat

lost by infiltration. The furnace energy input was 255 kW, all electrical. The

sum of radiation, convection, conduction, and infiltration losses was 246 kW, but

the water cooling alone had + 30 kW associated with it. The radiative and convective

losses (89 kW) were compared with the losses expected on the basis of the original

design (107 kW) , which is fair agreement. The value of infrared thermography for

doing heat balances on industrial furnaces was assessed.

17. KEY WORDS (six to twelve entries; alphabetical order; capitalize only the first letter of the first key word unless a proper name

separated by semicolons) Heat balance; industrial furnaces; infrared; thermography.

18. AVAILABILITY [£} Unlimited

I I For Official Distribution. Do Not Release to NTIS

IXl Order From Sup. of Doc, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC

20402.

I I Order From National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Springfield, VA. 22161

19. SECURITY CLASS

(THIS REPORT)

UNCLASSIFIED

20. SECURITY CLASS

(THIS PAGE)

UNCLASSIFIED

21. NO. OF

PRINTED PAGES

38

22. Price

USCOMM-DC

NBS TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS

PERIODICALS

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH—The Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards reports NBS research and develop- ment in those disciplines of the physical and engineering sciences in which the Bureau is active. These include physics, chemistry,

engineering, mathematics, and computer sciences. Papers cover a broad range of subjects, with major emphasis on measurement

methodology and the basic technology underlying standardization. Also included from time to time are survey articles on topics

closely related to the Bureau's technical and scientific programs. As a special service to subscribers each issue contains complete

citations to all recent Bureau publications in both NBS and non- NBS media. Issued six times a year. Annual subscription: domestic

$13; foreign $16.25. Single copy. S3 domestic; $3.75 foreign. NOTE: The Journal was formerly published in two sections: Section A "Physics and Chemistry" and Section B "Mathematical

Sciences." DIMENSIONS/NBS—This monthly magazine is published to in- form scientists, engineers, business and industry leaders, teachers, students, and consumers of the latest advances in science and

technology, with primary emphasis on work at NBS. The magazine

highlights and reviews such issues as energy research, fire protection, building technology, metric conversion, pollution abatement,

health and safety, and consumer product performance. In addition, it reports the results of Bureau programs in measurement

standards and techniques, properties of matter and materials, engineering standards and services, instrumentation, and

automatic data processing. Annual subscription: domestic $11;

foreign $13.75. NONPERIODICALS

Monographs—Major contributions to the technical literature on

various subjects related to the Bureau's scientific and technical activities. Handbooks—Recommended codes of engineering and industrial practice (including safety codes) developed in cooperation with in- terested industries, professional organizations, and regulatory

bodies. Special Publications—Include proceedings of conferences sponsored by NBS, NBS annual reports, and other special publications

appropriate to this grouping such as wall charts, pocket cards, and

bibliographies. Applied Mathematics Series—Mathematical tables, manuals, and

studies of special interest to physicists, engineers, chemists,

biologists, mathematicians, computer programmers, and others engaged in scientific and technical work.

National Standard Reference Data Series—Provides quantitative data on the physical and chemical properties of materials, compiled from the world's literature and critically evaluated. Developed under a worldwide program coordinated by NBS under

the authority of the National Standard Data Act (Public Law

90-396).

NOTE: The principal publication outlet for the foregoing data is the Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data (JPCRD)

published quarterly for NBS by the American Chemical Society

(ACS) and the American Institute of Physics (AIP). Subscriptions,

reprints, and supplements available from ACS, 1155 Sixteenth St., NW, Washington, DC 20056.

Building Science Series—Disseminates technical information developed at the Bureau on building materials, components,

systems, and whole structures. The series presents research results,

test methods, and performance criteria related to the structural and

environmental functions and the durability and safety characteristics of building elements and systems.

Technical Notes—Studies or reports which are complete in themselves but restrictive in their treatment of a subject. Analogous to monographs but not so comprehensive in scope or definitive in treatment of the subject area. Often serve as a vehicle for final reports of work performed at NBS under the sponsorship of other government agencies.

Voluntary Product Standards—Developed under procedures

published by the Department of Commerce in Part 10, Title 15, of

the Code of Federal Regulations. The standards establish nationally recognized requirements for products, and provide all concerned interests with a basis for common understanding of the

characteristics of the products. NBS administers this program as a supplement to the activities of the private sector standardizing

organizations. Consumer Information Series—Practical information, based on NBS research and experience, covering areas of interest to the con- sumer. Easily understandable language and illustrations provide

useful background knowledge for shopping in today's technological marketplace. Order the above NBS publications from: Superintendent of Documents. Government Printing Office. Washington. DC 20402. Order the following NBS publications—FIPS and NBSIR's—from

the National Technical Information Services, Springfield, VA 22161

Federal Information Processing Standards Publications (FIPS

PUB)—Publications in this series collectively constitute the Federal Information Processing Standards Register. The Register

serves as the official source of information in the Federal Govern- ment regarding standards issued by NBS pursuant to the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 as amended.

Public Law 89-306 (79 Stat. 1127), and as implemented by Executive Order 11717 (38 FR 12315, dated May 1 1, 1973) and Part 6 of Title 15 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations).

NBS Interagency Reports (NBSIR)—A special series of interim or

final reports on work performed by NBS for outside sponsors

(both government and non-government). In general, initial dis- tribution is handled by the sponsor; public distribution is by the National Technical Information Services, Springfield, VA 22161,

in paper copy or microfiche form.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

The following current-awareness and literature-survey bibliographies are issued periodically by the Bureau:

Cryogenic Data Center Current Awareness Service. A literature sur- vey issued biweekly. Annual subscription: domestic $25; foreign

$30. Liquefied Natural Gas. A literature survey issued quarterly. Annual

subscription: $20.

Superconducting Devices and Materials. A literature survey issued

quarterly. Annual subscription: $30. Please send subscription or- ders and remittances for the preceding bibliographic services to the National Bureau of Standards, Cryogenic Data Center (736) Boulder, CO 80303.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Bureau off Standards

Washington. D.C. 20234

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

Penalty for Private Use. $300

POSTAGE AND FEES PAID

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

COM-215

SPECIAL FOURTH-CLASS RATE

BOOK