Expert system for real-time control of an ironmaking reactor

Abstract

A real-time expert system is developed to support efficient operation and management of the No. 2 ironmaking reactor (blast furnace) in the China Steel Corporation. The expert system integrates the deep theoretical knowledge represented in reactor models with the practical experience of sophisticated field engineers. Fuzzy logic reasoning is applied in the expert system to deal with inherent indeterminacy of the operators‘ in-field knowledge of furnace heat levels. This expert system is divided into ‘information’ and ‘reasoning’ sub-systems. The information sub-system receives operational data from the process computer and executes the model calculations relevant to ironmaking. The sensory data and computation results of various models are then displayed on the operator’s terminal by way of attractive diagrams and tables to help field engineers to comprehend the furnace conditions as an integrated whole. The treated data afforded by the information sub-system are then periodically extracted by a reasoning sub-system for judging furnace conditions and for inferring adequate control strategies according to linguistic rules derived from expert operators. The expert system is currently under test in the No. 2 blast furnace of the China Steel Corporation. So far results have shown that the expert system can effectively reproduce the control strategies of experienced engineers and can reinforce the operation abilities of less experienced field engineers. ? 1992 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.