Semester
Fall
Date of Graduation
2010
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MS
College
Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
Department
Industrial and Managements Systems Engineering
Committee Chair
Bhaskaran Gopalakrishnan.
Abstract
Galvanizing is an energy intensive industry. Knowing how much energy is consumed when producing a certain product will help the company in determining which products can be produced to maximize profits. E-GEPDSS was built to explore the potential of saving energy in galvanizing lines by utilizing heat balance analysis. Heat transfer mechanisms of the heat losses for the pot presented in the heat balance are basic heat transfer concepts (i.e. radiation, convection, conduction, and specific heat.;The pot heat balance model was built and applied using the data collected from a host company during the plant visit. Sensitivity analyses were done to study the impact of changing values of input parameters on the total heat loss of main pot and pre-melt pot during the production as well as downtime (for the main pot).;The model was run and results were obtained and discussed. When there is no pre-melt pot, the largest heat loss is the heat required to melt ingots and maintain pot temperature. When there is a pre-melt pot in the process, the largest heat loss in the main pot is the heat loss from zinc coating. Heat losses from the surface, walls, air knife cooling effect, and steel strip are significant. Heat losses from the bottom and dross removal seem not to be significant. Emissivity, dimensions of the pot, temperature of the pot, and strip entry temperature have significant impact on the total heat loss. Total heat loss is most sensitive to changes of one of these parameters. Ambient temperature, thermal conductivity and wiping gas temperature do not have very much significant impact on the total heat loss. Total heat loss is not really sensitive to changes of one of these parameters. In the future, the model will be applied extensively to more galvanizing lines in order to help the galvanizers to have a more understanding about the energy consumption when producing their products.
Recommended Citation
Phuong, Quang Minh, "Pot heat balance analysis in continuous galvanizing lines" (2010). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 2181.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/2181