Furnace builders: hydrogen in the gas, kiln models, power or gas

Gas quality changes as hydrogen is blended in

What happens. As hydrogen is added to the gas grid, the heat content and the burning behaviour of the gas change from hour to hour. Burners set for natural gas give a flame that is longer, shorter or less stable than before.

What it costs. Unstable flames, product quality that moves with the gas, and burners run with more air than needed to stay safe. Customers call the furnace builder, not the gas supplier.

Why the usual fix fails. A fixed burner setting assumes one gas. An analyser for gas quality at every furnace is costly, and the values from the supplier arrive late and averaged.

How a fixed-price remote diagnosis checks it. From burner and furnace data (gas flow, air flow, temperatures, flue-gas oxygen) I check whether the gas quality can be computed continuously and how the burner control would adapt. The fixed-price remote diagnosis shows what that needs on your furnace types.

Background: Computing unmeasured states for control

Process engineering of kilns and dryers needs thermal models

What happens. Builders of kilns and dryers for ceramics and similar products need thermal process models: how heat moves through the product, how moisture leaves it, how the gas flow reacts. Few engineers combine this with control.

What it costs. Designs are based on tables and experience, which means safety margins and slow commissioning at each new customer.

Why the usual fix fails. Spreadsheet models of the kiln work for the case they were made for. A complete finite-element model of the whole kiln is too slow to design a controller on.

How a fixed-price remote diagnosis checks it. From design data, measured temperature profiles and product data I build reduced thermal models of the kiln or dryer and test control strategies on them. The fixed-price remote diagnosis tells you what such a model would bring to your designs and how much data it needs.

Background: Predictive control of process plants

Process heat is being electrified, and power costs more than gas

What happens. Customers ask whether a furnace or dryer can run on electricity. Power usually costs more per unit of heat than gas, and a large electric furnace needs a grid connection that may not exist.

What it costs. The business case depends on heating when power is cheap, and on a grid connection that is not oversized. A furnace that cannot do that is hard to sell.

Why the usual fix fails. Replacing the burner with a heater and keeping the old control gives an expensive furnace that heats whenever the batch needs it. A heat store or a hybrid of gas and power adds a second question: when to use which.

How a fixed-price remote diagnosis checks it. From the customer’s load profile, product schedule and power prices I check how heating could be shifted, with or without a heat store, and how a hybrid furnace would be controlled. The fixed-price remote diagnosis answers whether the electric or hybrid design pays under the real operating pattern.

Background: Economic predictive control