Patent ID: 7212561

Claim:
A control system for at least two electric furnaces, including a first furnace and a second furnace, each having at least one electrode, coupled to a power supply, the control system comprising: at least one variable reactor associated with at least the first furnace and coupled between each at least one electrode and the power supply; a variable reactance controller associated with the at least one variable reactor and the first furnace for adjusting a setting of each at least one variable reactor; a compensation controller coupled to the variable reactance controller and comprising monitoring means for monitoring respective operating characteristics of the at least two furnaces and determining whether the operating characteristic of the second furnace deviates from a set-point by more than a threshold amount, and control means responsive to the monitoring means for generating one or more compensation signals when the operating characteristic deviates from the set-point by more than the threshold amount, wherein, in response to receipt of the one or more compensation signals from the compensation controller, the variable reactance controller adjusts the setting of at least one variable reactor associated with the first furnace to compensate for the deviation of the operating characteristic of the second furnace from the set-point.