Electric induction heating and melting furnace refractory life cycle wear imaging and processing

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 to the electric induction furnace in the foundry environment;
• and
• a laser imaging assembly attached to the foundry imaging mounting system, the laser imaging assembly comprising a laser sensor unit and a laser motion mount, the laser 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 laser sensor unit and the laser motion mount thermally isolated from the foundry environment, the laser sensor unit configured for scanning a consumable refractory lining surface over a series of 2D planar refractory wall data points, the laser motion mount configured for a series of incremental angular rotations of the laser sensor unit around a central vertical axis of the consumable refractory for scanning the consumable refractory surface over the series of 2D planar refractory wall data points by the laser 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 method of measuring wear of a consumable refractory lining in an empty hot crucible of an electric induction furnace for heating and melting materials, the electric induction furnace disposed in a foundry environment, the method comprising:

• positioning a laser imaging assembly having a laser sensor unit and a laser motion mount attached to the laser sensor unit, the laser sensor unit and the laser motion mount offset above a crucible top of the electric induction furnace opening and approximately centered over the consumable refractory lining of the empty hot crucible;
• and
• performing a plurality of sequential two-dimensional diameter planar laser scans of a consumable refractory lining surface of the consumable refractory lining in the empty hot crucible with the laser sensor unit, each one of the plurality of sequential two-dimensional diameter planar laser scans formed by a laser beam sweep in each one of the plurality of sequential two-dimensional diameter planar laser scans, each one of the plurality of sequential two-dimensional diameter planar laser scans followed by an incremental radial rotation of the laser sensor unit around a central vertical axis of the consumable refractory lining surface by the laser motion mount until a sum of the incremental radial rotations after each one of the plurality of sequential two-dimensional diameter laser scans is equal to 180 degrees to generate a total consumable refractory wall scan data set for the consumable refractory lining.

A method of measuring wear of a consumable refractory lining in a crucible of an electric induction furnace for heating and melting materials, the electric induction furnace disposed in a foundry environment, the method comprising

• performing a series of periodic total consumable refractory wall data scans, each one of the series of periodic total consumable refractory wall data scans comprising the sequential steps:
• (a) positioning a laser sensor unit attached to a laser motion mount offset above a crucible top opening of the electric induction furnace, the laser sensor unit approximately centered over the consumable refractory lining;
• (b) rotating the laser scan unit with the laser motion mount to a vertical two-dimensional consumable crucible surface diameter scan plane;
• (c) performing a plurality of planar laser beam scans in the vertical two-dimensional consumable crucible surface diameter scan plane for a plurality of consumable refractory surface scan plane wall data points;
• (d) storing the plurality of consumable refractory surface scan plane wall data points in a storage memory device;
• (e) incrementing the vertical two-dimensional consumable crucible surface diameter scan plane by rotation of the laser scan unit with the laser motion mount through an incremental scan plane angular rotation (φ) of the laser sensor unit;
• (f) if a sum of the incremental scan plane angular rotations is less than 180 degrees in step (e) perform steps (c) through (e);
• and
• (g) if the sum of the incremental scan plane angular rotations is greater than 180 degrees store the plurality of consumable refractory surface scan plane wall data points for each one of the vertical two-dimensional consumable surface diameter scan planes as one of the series of periodic total consumable refractory wall data scans.