Furnace and method for operating a furnace

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for operating a furnace, in particular an anode furnace, the furnace being formed by a plurality of heating channels and furnace chambers, the furnace chambers serving to receive carbonaceous bodies, in particular anodes, and the heating channels serving to control the temperature of the furnace chambers, the furnace comprising at least one furnace unit, the furnace unit comprising a heating zone, a fire zone and a cooling zone, which for their part are formed by at least one section comprising furnace chambers, a suction ramp of the furnace unit being disposed in a section of the heating zone, and a burner ramp of the furnace unit being disposed in a section of the fire zone, process air in the heating channels of the fire zone being heated by means of the burner ramp, and exhaust gas being suctioned from the heating channels of the heating zone by means of the suction ramp, an operation of the ramps being controlled by means of a control device of the furnace unit, a temperature in the heating channel being measured in the fire zone, an output of the burner ramp being regulated according to the temperature measured in the heating channel by means of a regulator of the control device, wherein, by means of the control device, at least two characteristic numbers are determined and the characteristic numbers are compared, a status of the heating channel relative to an amount of fuel in the heating channel being determined on the basis of the comparison by means of the control device, a characteristic number including the temperature in the heating channel and/or a characteristic number including the output of the burner ramp and/or a characteristic number including a controlled variable of the regulator being determined as characteristic numbers. Furthermore, the invention relates to a control device for operating a furnace and to a furnace.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.