2
Question 1
(max 8)
Basic furnace control strategies are based on either the product temperature control or the
fuzzy logic and rule-based systems. Give summary principles of the two control strategies.
Question 2
(max 8)
Consider resistance heating in furnaces.
a) Explain why coiled heating elements, sometime tape form elements are preferred to
straight round wires (or rods) heating elements.
b) Explain the failure of heating elements by "hot spot". What are the other causes of
failure of heat elements?
Question 3
(max 9)
Consider the physics of combustion.
a. What are the stages of the combustion of a fuel with oxygen. Which is the slowest
stage?
b. What would be the consequences of insufficient fuel/air mixing in a diffusion
burner? How do you design the air supply to the furnace to avoid such risks?
c. Explain the occurrence of jet entrainment in furnaces.
Question 4
(max 10)
Refractory bricks rarely fail under compression, however they can fail under strain loading
due to internal forces, such the volume thermal expansion (contraction) due to heating
(cooling). How do you design the refractory construction to avoid this failure mode of the
bricks.