Patent ID: 7991039

Claim:
A method for monitoring an electric arc furnace having a monitoring device, programmable logic controller and a furnace monitor viewing system, the method comprising the steps of: providing a furnace monitoring system server; receiving at the furnace monitoring system server electrical data from the monitoring device correlating to electrical parameters of input power to the electrical arc furnace; receiving, at the furnace monitoring system server, process data transmitted from the programmable logic controller correlating to at least one of heat time, oxygen and natural gas consumption, process weights, temperatures and end-of-heat signals; receiving at the furnace monitoring system server furnace operation data entered manually by an authorized user; displaying the received electrical data, process data, and manually entered operation data for viewing in substantially real-time by a user; transmitting at predetermined intervals the electrical data, process data and manually entered operation data from the furnace monitoring system server to a web server and storing the transmitted data in a remote database located on the web server; and accessing the remote database via the Internet and generating a report detailing historical operation of the furnace, the report including the manually entered operation data, wherein the report includes a plurality of: performance reporting in graphical format, refractory wear reporting, event log reporting, electrode consumption reporting, electrode usage and inventory reporting, and information about furnace heats collected according to any or all of single heats, daily heats, daily shift heats, weekly heats, monthly heats, heats by date range and conditions.