Electric induction heating and melting furnace refractory life cycle wear imaging and processing
AssigneeInductotherm Corp.
InventorsSatyen N. Prabhu, Adam J. Westerland
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Abstract
Apparatus and method are provided for life cycle wear monitoring of a consumable refractory in an electric induction furnace used for heating and melting materials by accumulating laser imaging data of the refractory's inner surface periodically over the refractory's life cycle while the furnace is utilized in a foundry environment and processing the accumulated imaging data for comparative analysis with previous laser imaging data of the refractory's inner surface.
Claims15
A consumable refractory life cycle wear imaging and image processing system for an electric induction furnace disposed in a foundry environment, the consumable refractory life cycle wear imaging and image processing system comprising:
- a foundry imaging mounting system disposed adjacent and external to the electric induction furnace in the foundry environment;
- and
- an imaging assembly attached to the foundry imaging mounting system, the imaging assembly comprising a sensor unit and a motion mount in the form of a two-dimensional light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, the imaging assembly attached to the foundry imaging mounting system and offset above a crucible top of the electric induction furnace and approximately centered over a consumable refractory within the electric induction furnace, the sensor unit and the motion mount thermally isolated from the foundry environment, the sensor unit configured for scanning a consumable refractory lining surface over a series of 2D planar refractory wall data points, the motion mount configured for a series of incremental angular rotations of the sensor unit around a central vertical axis of the consumable refractory for scanning the consumable refractory lining surface over the series of 2D planar refractory wall data points by the sensor unit, the series of 2D planar refractory wall data points forming a total consumable refractory wall surface raw data scan of the consumable refractory lining surface.
A consumable refractory life cycle wear imaging and image processing system for an electric induction furnace disposed in a foundry environment and having an empty hot crucible, the consumable refractory life cycle wear imaging and image processing system comprising:
- a foundry imaging mounting system disposed adjacent and external to the empty hot crucible of the electric induction furnace in the foundry environment;
- an imaging assembly attached to the foundry imaging mounting system, the imaging assembly comprising a sensor unit and a motion mount in the form of a two-dimensional light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, the imaging assembly attached to the foundry imaging mounting system and offset above a crucible top of the empty hot crucible of the electric induction furnace and approximately centered over a consumable refractory within the empty hot crucible, the sensor unit and the motion mount thermally isolated from the foundry environment, the sensor unit configured for scanning a consumable refractory lining surface over a series of 2D planar refractory wall data points, the motion mount configured for a series of incremental angular rotations of the sensor unit around a central vertical axis of the consumable refractory for scanning the consumable refractory lining surface over the series of 2D planar refractory wall data points by the sensor unit, the series of 2D planar refractory wall data points forming a total consumable refractory wall surface raw data scan of the consumable refractory lining surface;
- and
- a centered 3D point cloud generated from the total consumable refractory wall surface raw data scan of the consumable refractory lining surface establishes a coherently centered and aligned consumable refractory lining surface geometry.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.