Development of a roller hearth furnace simulation model and performance investigation

The roller hearth furnace is numerically investigated to analyze and optimize its performance. It is essential to apply the temperature control model and the material transport model for the furnace simulation, which enables the energy consumption and productivity calculation. When it comes to temperature control models, a total of five models are considered: constant temperature method, constant heat flux method, on-off control, proportional-integral-differential (PID) control, and on-off and PID control. For material transport models, high viscosity laminar flow model, dynamic mesh model, and source term model are developed and evaluated. As a result, a new heating furnace simulation is developed with the on-off and PID control model and the source term model. This simulation model can reduce the computational cost significantly while maintaining the accuracy. The developed model cannot only analyze the results of design changes, but also the results caused by the change in many variables, such as the speed of blank, the setting temperature, material change, and emissivity. Therefore, this simulation model can be used to suggest solutions for energy efficiency and productivity of existing furnaces through various case studies. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.