15. - 17. 5. 2013, Brno, Czech Republic, EU PREDICTION OF A HEATING PROCESS IN CONTINUOUS FURNACES WITH REGARD TO THE ECONOMY OF OPERATION Ivo ŠPIČKA a , Milan HEGER b a VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava, Faculty of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, , 17. listopadu 15, 708 33 Ostrava-Poruba, Czech Republic, ivo.spicka@vsb.cz b VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava, Faculty of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, , 17. listopadu 15, 708 33 Ostrava-Poruba, Czech Republic, milan.heger@vsb.cz Abstract Heating of material in continuous reheating furnaces is often accompanied by uneven betting material to the furnace, which has an effect on the resulting parameters of the heated material. Too long heating leads to the exceeding of optimal temperatures and operating inefficiency, too short heating leads to insufficient heating of the material. Deviations from the standard set of parameters hot material may occur with subsequent further processing in successive forming technologies. To determine the optimal heating of the material in the furnace is a complex and difficult task. The aim of the article will examine possible modes of heating in a continuous furnace with respect to establishing the criteria of heating in order to optimize heating process. Key words: heating, furnace, model, optimal control. simulation 1. INTRODUCTION A heating of materials is a common technological process. In the process of metallurgical production this operation is particularly common in hot rolling mills. The whole area of metallurgy is characterized by a high energy consumption. Therefore, even in heating furnace segment it is true, that even a small percentage of a reduction of an energy consumption can lead to very interesting economic benefits. These savings can be achieved in several ways. Below it will be shown only one possible way leading to savings and to an optimized control of own heating unit. In rolling mills, when the heating process is dictated by the rhythm of the rolling mill work, the control of heating furnaces must solve a complex task together with the whole technology of a rolling line. The part of the proposal optimizing of a heating furnace control is a rigorous evaluation of a furnace operation during its normal operation. Data from this operation forms the basis of the optimum control. It has several purposes: to verify models of heating materials, to select of appropriate operational models of heating, to set parameters of the dynamic model behaviour of the furnace technology. These data necessary for the creation and generally the verification of the model is obtained using data mining methods. As a mathematical-physical model of an optimization of heating can be used the model built upon the idea of the Pontragin’s principle of maxima. Using the operating data an example of verification of heating material in a continuous furnace and potential contribution of optimal control will be shown. 2. MATHEMATICAL- PHYSICAL MODEL AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS OF HEATING AS A DYNAMIC SYSTEM The technology of the heating furnace can be divided into several parts: the transport of heated slabs in the furnace during heating; the furnaces heating system; the process of heat transfer from the furnaces atmosphere to the heated slabs; the heat transfer from the surface of the slab