3D FE analysis and control of a submerged arc electric furnace

Purpose of the paper is to study the behaviour of a submerged arc furnace for the production of ferroalloys in order to implement a new voltage-based control system of the furnace. A 3D Finite Element (FE) model has been developed to define an equivalent electric circuit model able to describe the furnace operations. Both field and circuit models are validated by measurements on a furnace installed in an industrial plant. A novel method to control a furnace is proposed.