Research Association of Industrial Furnace Manufactures
The Thermprocess fair in Dusseldorf is the world's most important platform for the presentation of highly innovative technologies in industrial thermal processing technology. The Department for Industrial Furnaces and Heat Engineering (IOB) was represented with its own booth in the Research Association of Industrial Furnace Manufactures (FOGI). In this way, contacts with representatives of industry were made and intensified. Four selected research projects in the field of industrial furnaces were presented at the booth with the help of posters and exhibits.
For the controlled adjustment of material properties metallic strips are heat-treated after the cold rolling. In order to obtain the desired properties also with new materials, high cooling rates are needed. However, this can reduce the process stability due to vibrations and dents. Therefore, the IOB investigates the influence of important parameters on the stability of the metal strip in cooling sections
Another research project deals with the reduction of scale formation in reheating processes. The surface of the charge material is oxidized in contact with the furnace atmosphere, which can lead to a considerable loss of material and to additional effort in subsequent processes. By means of a fuel-rich combustion, a reduction or complete avoidance of scale can be achieved cost-effectively. Through a purposeful post-combustion of the exhaust gas in front of a heat exchanger nevertheless an energy-efficient process can be achieved. This approach also leads to low emission values of CO and NOx
Gas-fired radiant tubes made of steel or ceramics allow the indirect firing of a furnace in order to avoid undesirable reactions of the charge material surface with the exhaust gases. Owing to their high demands radiant tubes usually provide insufficient lifetimes.


Therefore a research project focuses on the optimization of radiant tubes. The objective is to increase the lifetime by reducing thermal stresses, which can be accomplished within the radiant tube primarily by a homogenous surface temperature and optimized flow guidance.
An important influence for the heat transfer rate in high convection furnaces is the volumetric flow rate. As part of a research project, a measuring device is developed which allows determining reliably the actual volumetric flow rate in industrial high convection furnaces. An important focus is the applicability to various designs of fans.
The Department for Industrial Furnaces and Heat Engineering (German abbr. IOB) of the RWTH Aachen University, headed by Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Herbert Pfeifer, is an internationally known research department with the task of process and technical plant optimization in the fields of manufacturing, processing and recycling of iron and steel, non-iron-metals, glass and ceramics.
The department is part of the Faculty of Georesources and Materials Engineering in the Division of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering.
Besides industrial furnace technology the IOB investigates flows in metallurgical melts and energy and mass balances in energy-intensive high temperature processes.
Contact:
RWTH Aachen University
Institut für Industrieofenbau und Wärmetechnik
Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Herbert Pfeifer
Kopernikusstraße 10
52074 Aachen
Telefon: +49 241 80-25936
Fax: +49 241 80-22289
contact@iob.rwth-aachen.de
www.iob.rwth-aachen.de

