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By
V.G. Kulkarni1, V.K.C. Shekar2
1. V.G.Kulkarni, Automation Engineer, Bhilai Steel Plant, SAIL, INDIA
email: vgkulkarni@sailbhilaisteel.com
phone: +917882853794
2. V.K.C. Shekar , GM(Sinter Plants), Bhilai Steel Plant, SAIL, INDIA
Abstract :
Neural net based software has been developed and tested in plant conditions for prediction of
Burnthrough Point Temperatutre(BTPT), Burnthrough Point Position (BTPP) and Waste Gas
Temperature(WGT). These three parameters are of great interest for sinter plant operators as they
indicate the completion of onstrand sinter process leading to higher productivity and efficient usage
of the sinter plant. Three separate neural networks each with six inputs and single output were
considered for prediction of each of the above mentioned process parameters. Backpropagation
algorithm was used for teaching the network. Results obtained show very good prdictability using
the Neural Net. Similarly the prediction of bed permeability as a function of bed height, charge
moisture content and pallet speed was attempted using a neural net. Results obtained show that the
neural net was almost always able to predict the permeability within 5 % of the actual value.
Introduction :
Sinter is the main raw material for blast furnaces constituting upward of 70 % of the furnace burden
reaching up to 100%. Because of this, modern sinter plants have to operate at higher productivity
while at the same time ensuring uniform quality of Sinter product produced. Three main process
parameters which are monitored extensively during the sinter manufacturing process are:
1) Burnthrough Point Temperatutre(BTPT)
2) Burnthrough Point Position (BTPP)
3) Waste Gas Temperature(WGT)
Maintaining these process parameters within certain range ensures uniform quality sinter production
and maximum productivity. The operating variables affecting these proxcess parameters are many
but following are considered to be the important ones mainly because the operator can control these
to some extent and within short duration i.e. Within a certain range the operator can control these
parameters.
1) on Strand Bed Height
2) charge moisture content
3) ignition temperature
4) pallet speed
5) Coke % in charge
6) heat hold temperature
The relation between these input parameters and the process parameters which can be considered as
the outputs is a very complex one and not at all linear in nature. Developing a mathematical model
for use in an operating plant is almost nonfeasible. Hence techniques like fuzzy logic, expert
systems and neural nets are quite attractive for developing tools which can help the operator in
controlling the process. Similar is the dependence of bed permeability on charge moisture content
and bed height.
Neural Nets:
Neural Nets or Neural Networks try to mimic the way brain cells called neurons learn to respond to
different external stimuli1,1a. A neural network consists of a number of layers of neurons. The input
layer neuron accepts inputs from the real world. Next to the input layer comes the hidden layer,
usually at least one hidden layer is used. After the hidden layer(s) comes the output layer. The
number of neurons in the input layer is decided by the number of inputs to be considered. The
number of neurons in the output layer is decided by the number of outputs desired from the neural
net. It is the number of hidden layers and the number of neurons in each hidden layer which need a
little bit of experimentation.2 Usually one hidden layer is sufficient for solving most problems
though at times two hidden layers are used3. Figure 1 shows an example neural network. The
interconnection between the neurons are associated with associated weight values which can be
taken to mean the strength of the particular connection.
Training of the Neural Net:
A neural net works by learning from old data. The weight parameters of each neuron are adjusted by
providing each set of data as input, calculating the outputs(i.e. forward propagation). Next,
comparing the outputs with actual value, the error is calculated. This error is used to determine the
correction needed for each of the weights associated with each neuron in the net using the back
propagation algorithm. The procedure is repeated till the error for each of the outputs becomes
tolerable or till the limit set for number of iteration is reached. This way of learning i.e. Updating of
weights after presenting each data set is called online learning as against batch learning where
weigts are adjusted only after presenting all data sets to the network. Online learning is used
because of its advantages with respect to speed, redundancy of data, non stationary environment
etc4. Thus online learning is preferred as the plant operation regime gradually shifts from one range
of operation to another due to variations in raw materials, stoppages and restarts etc.
After adjusting the weights as above the net is presented with test data or new data inputs and the
output is calculated as prediction from the net.
Implementation In Sinter Plant:
Bhiai Steel Plant(BSP), Bhilai is an Integrated Steel Plant under Steel Authority of India Limited.
BSP has three sinter plants of which Sinter Plant No. 3(SPIII) is the latest. SPIII is provided with
state of the art instrumentation, plc(programmable logic controller) based controls and a level 2
Computer for MIS purposes. Real time data from level I systems is transferred every one minute to
the Database System in Level 2 Computer. The data in the Level 2 system is used in the present
implementation of Neural Network as input to the network. The number of inputs are 6 viz:
1) Pallet Speed m/min
2) Moisture in raw charge after Mixing drum %
3) Strand Bed Height mm
4) Coke % in Charge %
5) Ignition temperature deg C
6) heat hold temperature deg C
Therefore the number of input neurons in Input layer is 6. The number of hidden layers chosen was
two with 15 neurons in Hidden Layer1 and 10 neurons in Hidden layer 2. The outputs envisaged are:
Burnthrough Point Temperatutre(BTPT)
Burnthrough Point Position (BTPP)
Waste Gas Temperature(WGT)
The learning rate used was 0.3. Even though three outputs are envisaged in our implementation we
have used three different nets each with one output neuron. The three nets are provided with same
set of input data but calculate one of the three outputs designated above.
The procedure for prediction of outputs was as follows:
Half hourly average data of all the considered parameters for last four hours is applied to the net and
after training with this data the latest half hour's data is applied to the net as input. Then the
outputs are calculated(predicted). This predicted output is compared with the actual output values
for the last half hour average data.
Almost using similar procedure prediction of bed permeability with bed height and charge moisture
content was attempted using a neural net. The network used had two hidden layers each with five
neurons and three inputs viz: pallet speed, bed height and charge moisture content.
The neural network used can be classified as :
Fully Connected Feed Forward Multi Layer Network using Supervised Learning through
BackPropagation.
Hardware and Software Platform used:
The neural net was implemented as a Java application programe, Total neural network was
implemented as java classes and no special Neural Network softare package was used.Hardware
used is a plain Pentium PC having Core2duo processor. 1 GB main memory and Linux operating
System. The java application program reads in data from the Level 2 Computer System Database,
trains the network and then predicts the output. The program also stores the actual and predicted
values in binary files.
Same Neural Net class was also used in a java server page(jsp) to display the results in a web page
on the company intranet.
Special features of the Neural Net used:
The Neural Net used in the present study is a feed forward type with one neural network bu with
some features not found in a regular feed forward fully connected network.
1) The network is not t not fully connected. Each input is connected only to one hidden layer
Neuron. The weights between the Input Layer neurons and the Hidden Layer Neurons
represent the power to which the corresponding input is raised.
2) The hidden layer neuron is connected to the output layer with only one neuron. The link
from the hiddden layer network to the output neuron multiplies the hidden layer neuron total
activation by the associted weight and supplies it to the output neuron.
3) The hidden layer neurons only sum the incoming activations and supply it via the outward
link.
The architecture is shown in Figure 1A. This particular structure is chosen to represent the following
empirical model for the particular output parmeter being evaluated.
p1 p2 p3
Output = A*(Input1) + B*(Input2) + C*(Input3) + ....... A1
or
j=n1
Output = SUM ( aj*(Ij)pj) A2
j=0
In the above two equations
n = number of inputs = number of hidden layer neurons
j = hidden layer or input layer neuron number
aj = coefficient representing the weight of link betwwen hidden layer and output neuron
(see fig 1a)
= coefficients A,B,C etc of eqn A1
pj = power to which input j is raised, represnts weight of link between input j and
hidden layer neuron j
for example,
waste gas temperature = A*(PalletSpeed)power1 + B*(Moisture %)power2+ C*(StrandBed Height)power3
+
Results:
The results obtained are displayed below as a series of graphs(Figures 2 through 7). Figure 2, 3 and
4 show prediction of btp temperature btp position and waste gas temperature. Figure 5, 6 and 7 show
the prediction of sinter bed permeability. The graphs show the curves of actual versus predicted
values. The curve marked with letter 'p' shows the predicted values while that marked with letter 'a'
shows the actual values of the concerned parameter. The points on both the curves are separated by
30 minute interval. Learning of the network is done every 30 minutes using past seven and half
hours' half hourly average data. Using this learned network prediction is done for the next half hour
and then compared with actual values. The dates chosen are such that they fall in different weeks.
This demonstrates that the neuarl network is able to predict the data correctly by adjusting its weight
parameters even though the plant conditions may be different in different weeks. It can be seen that
very good agreement between actual values and the predicted values can be obtained in actual plant
conditions also.
Conclusion:
The neural netwok can be used for prediction of sinter process parameters and can provide a useful
tool for process moniotoring and control. The neural network is able to predict the process
parameters even when operating conditions change considerably due to the self adapting nature of
the neural network.
Acknowledgement:
The authors wish to thank the management of Bhilai Steel Plant, Steel Authority of India Limited,
India for the support given for carrying out the above work.
References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_network
2. 1a.Rich Knight, Artificial Intelligence, Tata McGrawHill, 2nd ed, p.481,1991
2. ftp://ftp.sas.com/pub/neural/FAQ3.html#A_hu
3. ftp://ftp.sas.com/pub/neural/FAQ3.html#A_hl
4. http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~cogs2010/cmc/chapters/BackProp/index2.html#Hidden
5. http://willamette.edu/~gorr/classes/cs449/linear2.html