COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ЕFFICIENCY BETWEEN DIFFERENT MODELS OF ELECTRIC CIRCUIT FOR APPLICATION IN ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE’S DIGITAL TWIN
Authors:   Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Nikolaev Aleksandr A. , Ivekeev Vladimir S. ,   Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Tulupov Platon G. ,   Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Ryzhevol Sergey S. ,   Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University
Published: February 2024

usRelevance Nowadays the metallurgical industry is rapidly developing, which requires a continuous search for innovative solutions aimed at providing consumers with high-quality metal products in the required volumes. To achieve this goal, modern enterprises are faced with a number of scientific and technical tasks, which include increasing the energy efficiency of production. An innovative tool in this case is the development of methods for the digitalization of production, including implementation of digital twins for the control of complicated technological systems. The most energy-intensive equipment at metallurgical enterprises is electric arc furnace (EAF). As operating experience shows, control systems for electrical modes of such units do not always allow EAFs to operate with optimal time, energy and technological parameters, which in turn leads to increased operating costs, such as increased specific energy consumption, consumption of electrodes, etc. As a solution to this problem, a number of scientific studies propose the use of a digital twin for dynamic adaptation of the parameters of the EAF electrical mode control system, capable of calculating the settings of control algorithms during the melting process in such a way as to obtain optimal electrical and technological modes at different stages, as well as optimal dynamic performance quality of impedance regulation on the secondary side of the furnace transformer. One of the important stages in this case is the form of representation of the electrical circuit inside of the digital twin, since the adequacy of the output parameters and the accuracy of the operation of the entire control system will depend on this. Based on the above, an urgent task is to develop an effective method for modeling the electrical circuit of the electric arc furnace for application in a digital twin. Aim of research The paper is devoted to the results of research aimed at the use of various mathematical models of the electrical circuit for application in electric arc furnace’s digital twin. Research methods To process the experimental data, mathematical modeling methods were used in the Matlab environment with the Simulink application. All studies were carried out on the basis of experimental data obtained at operating equipment at domestic and foreign metallurgical plants. Results The significance of the research results lies in increasing the energy efficiency of arc steel-smelting furnaces through the use of a digital twin. This solution will allow to provide the optimal selection of transformer tap reactor tap and operating curve number for each stage of melting, as well as analyze the position of operating points on the electrical characteristics and generate additional control signals for dynamic correction of the lengths of electric arcs. The methods of electric circuit modeling in digital twins presented in the work allow to configure the melting program and optimize the parameters of nonlinear impedance or conductivity controllers of the secondary side of the EAF’s transformer. In addition, it makes possible the analyze and adaptation of the auxiliary blocks in control system — arc ignition, current control and correction of regulator setting signals as a function of the voltage deviation on the primary side of the furnace transformer (relatively to the rated value). Problems associated with calculating matrices of settings for impedances and conductances of the secondary circuit of an EAF for all combinations of transformer taps, reactor taps and all values of operating curves can also be solved. Mathematical models are implemented in the Matlab software environment with the Simulink application.