Process control method, blast furnace operation method, hot metal production method, process control device, and program

A process control device comprising:

• a storage configured to store a physical model capable of calculating internal conditions of a blast furnace;
• and
• a hot metal temperature controller configured to acquire a target hot metal temperature that is a target value of hot metal temperature and calculate operation amounts of pulverized coal rate and blast moisture at which the hot metal temperature becomes the target hot metal temperature, wherein
• the hot metal temperature controller is further configured to:
• determine a predicted value of future hot metal temperature using the physical model;
• when an absolute value of a difference between the predicted value of the hot metal temperature and a target value is a defined threshold value or greater, determine a deviation between the predicted value of the hot metal temperature and the target value, and determine operation amounts of pulverized coal rate and blast moisture so that an evaluation function comprising a term corresponding to the deviation and a term for decreasing the reducing agent rate or blast moisture is minimized or maximized;
• and
• when the absolute value is less than the defined threshold value, determine, depending on an intention, the operation amounts of a combination of two of the pulverized coal rate, the blast moisture, and blast temperature, to maintain the predicted value.

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium including computer program instructions configured to cause a computer to execute:

• a response prediction step of determining a predicted value of future hot metal temperature using a physical model capable of calculating an internal state of a blast furnace;
• and
• an operation amount determination step of,
• when an absolute value of a difference between the predicted value of the hot metal temperature determined in the response prediction step and a target value is a defined threshold value or greater, determining a deviation between the predicted value of the hot metal temperature and the target value, and determining operation amounts of pulverized coal rate and blast moisture so that an evaluation function comprising a term corresponding to the deviation and a term for decreasing the reducing agent rate or blast moisture is minimized or maximized, and
• when the absolute value is less than the defined threshold value, determining, depending on an intention, the operation amounts of a combination of two of the pulverized coal rate, the blast moisture, and blast temperature, to maintain the predicted value.