A heat balance model of zinc pot and its application

Abstract

In this paper, the problem of stripe temperature at the entrance of the zinc pot is addressed in a novel way. Based on in-depth analysis of thermal features of hot-dip galvanization, a generalized heat-balance mode has been established that has wider adaptivity within the production lines. The relationship between the pot load, the galvanization load and the productivity has been re-characterized by introducing a new concept of line-area ratio. Subsequently, the stripe temperature can be estimated based on the model. The effectiveness of the proposed model has been verified by real-time application to the production lines with temperature estimation error within ± 3 °C. As such, effective temperature compensation can be implemented that significantly improves the galvanization quality.

Keywords

• energy balance model
• galvanization
• heat loss quantification
• stripe temperature