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System modeling and temperature control of reheating furnace walking

hearth type in the setting up process

Article  in  Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology · August 2014

DOI: 10.1007/s12206-014-0750-x

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 Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 28 (8) (2014) 3377~3385
www.springerlink.com/content/1738-494x
DOI 10.1007/s12206-014-0750-x

System modeling and temperature control of reheating furnace walking hearth type in
the setting up process†
Thanawat Pongam, Vorapot Khomphis and Jiraphon Srisertpol*
School of Mechanical Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, 30000, Thailand

(Manuscript Received June 25, 2013; Revised January 28, 2014; Accepted February 26, 2014)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract

Reheating furnace walking hearth type (RFWHT) has been used for the iron and wire rods of the reheating process in Ratchasima Steel
Products Co., Ltd. Factory (Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand). Ratchasima Steel Products Co., Ltd. is among the companies with the high-
est energy consumption in Thailand. The company is confronted by problems related to performance improvement in terms of tempera-
ture control and reduction of fuel consumption. Since the reheating furnace was installed in 1964 and with the adjustment of some of its
devices, the system has required an optimal controller for controlling the temperature inside each zone of the reheating furnace. This
study aimed at investigating the mathematical model from the experimental data in the manufacturing process of rolling wire rod produc-
tion and subsystem by using system identification with genetic algorithm. Results can be used to design a proportional-integral controller
for temperature control in each zone and to reduce fuel.
Keywords: Genetic algorithm; Mathematical model; System identification; Reheating furnace walking hearth type
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table 1. Time table of process.

1. Introduction
Time table Description
The reheating furnace is one of the key apparatuses used in
10:30 P.M. TO 08:30 A.M. Rolling process
the steel rolling process. The equipment also consumes the
most energy. In Ratchasima Steel Products Co., Ltd. Factory, 08:30 A.M. TO 07:30 P.M. Stop burner
the reheating furnace walking hearth type (RFWHT) is used to 07:30 P.M. TO 10:30 P.M. Setting up process
heat billets before charging into the rolling process. This fur-
nace uses emulsion oil for combustion. RFWHT can be sepa-
rated into four zones, namely, preheating, heating, soaking 1,
and soaking 2, as shown in Fig. 1; the number of burners in
each of these zones is eight, eight, five, and five, respectively.
Each zone has different functions. The preheating zone
heats the billets to remove moisture and thus operates at tem-
peratures ranging from 750°C to 850°C. The heating zone
provides heat directly to the billets at temperatures ranging
from 950°C to 1150°C. The soaking zone maintains the zone
temperatures from 1000°C to 1100°C. The inner size of the
furnace is approximately 13000 × 29000 mm. The heat source
for the reheating furnace is emulsion oil (fuel 70% + water
30%). The furnace can provide heat of approximately 24.5
MJ/kg. Additionally, the air-to-fuel ratio is 4.5:1. This furnace
Fig. 1. Reheating furnace walking hearth type.
does not operate 24 h/day. However, the process must be
planned to run from 10:30 P.M. to 8:30 A.M., with a break
from 8:30 A.M. to 7:30 P.M., after which the burners are re- started 7:30 P.M. to increase the temperatures inside the fur-
* nace before the start of the manufacturing process at 10:30
Corresponding author. Tel.: +66 44 223116, Fax.: +66 44 223119
E-mail address: jiraphon@sut.ac.th P.M., as shown in Table 1.
†
Recommended by Associate Editor Tong Seop Kim The parameters of the old controller are inappropriate for
© KSME & Springer 2014
3378 T. Pongam et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 28 (8) (2014) 3377~3385
Over shoot
1150
Setpoint
1100
T2
1050
1000
Temperature (C)
950
900
850
800
750
700
650
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Time (sec)
Fig. 2. Problem of temperature control.
new operating conditions, such as new burners, modified
valves, new fuel types, and physical changes of the furnace.
The responsive temperature control during setup is shown in
Fig. 2. The high overshoot of the temperature response affects
the rate of fuel consumption.
This study on the reheating furnace focuses on thermal en-
ergy consumption and mathematical model estimation of the
reheating furnace [1-3]. This study helps design a suitable (on-
off) input for burners with the desired heating curve [4]. The
system identification method can estimate the variables of a
multivariable system, such as reheating furnace walking beam
type [5, 6]. The predictive control and system identification of
the reheating furnace can predict the system temperature from
all billets by considering the error between predictive value
and target. The predictive value and target are used as inputs
to the controller, and the prediction model is called the autore-
gressive exogenous model [7]. The efficiency of the furnace
can be improved by using mathematical equations for com-
pleted combustion [8, 9]. The mathematical model of the re-
heating furnace is presented through sequence learning on the
artificial neural network to predict the temperature in each
zone [10, 11]. The various feed conditions of fuel for radiative
slab heating affect the characteristics and thermal efficiency of
a reheating furnace [12]. The genetic algorithm (GA) is wide-
ly used to estimate system parameters for its simple applica-
tion and accurate results [1, 2, 4, 13, 14]. The simulation mod-
el considers the exact geometry of the furnace enclosure, in-
cluding the geometry of the slabs inside the reheating furnace
[15]. The open-loop identification of the RFWHT between
fuel flow rate and temperature response is demonstrated [16].
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: First, a
mathematical model of a reheating furnace is described. This
model can predict the temperature response in each zone dur-
ing setup with the use of GA for system identification. The
results are then presented and are used as a basis to establish
the mathematical model of this process. Subsequently, the pro-
portional-integral (PI) controller is designed for temperature
control. The temperature responses show that the modified PI
controller can decrease the system fuel consumption rate.
Table 2. Specification of the burners.
Zone Type Number Maximum flow rate (L/h)
1 NXB-300 8 1,350
2 NXB-300 8 1,350
3 NXB-125 5 325
4 NXB-125 5 325
6000 7000 8000
Fig. 3. The RFWHT’s temperature control system.
2. Temperature control of reheating furnace during
the setup process
The temperature control system of the RFWHT can be di-
vided into three parts on the basis of function. The first part is
the heat transfer system of the RFWHT, the second part is the
fuel flow control system through the servo valve, and the final
part is a PI controller that uses Siemens S7. The temperature
control system of the RFWHT is shown in Fig. 3.
2.1 Mathematical model of the RFWHT
We consider the function of the furnace and the installation
of thermocouples in the construction of the mathematical
model of the RFWHT during the setup process. Each zone has
two thermocouples for measuring the average temperature.
Therefore, we can divide the reheating furnace into four zones
of the mathematical model, as shown in Fig. 1. The preheating
zone is Zone 1, whereas the heating zone is Zone 2. The soak-
ing zone is divided into Zones 3 and 4. The number and the
size of the burners in each zone are shown in Table 2.
The model input is the fuel flow rate, whereas the output is
the temperature response in each zone. The PI controller is
employed in the closed-loop control system, with an air-to-
fuel ratio of 4.5:1. In the manufacturing process, when the
burners in Zones 2-4 are open, heat transfer theory with the
basic assumption is used to reduce the complexity of the
mathematical model. The steps are as follows:
• Consider the insulation of the furnace wall;
• Consider the heat transfer through the furnace wall by
conduction and convection;
• Consider the complete control of the air to fuel ratio
(4.5:1);
• Do not consider the heat transfer of residue billets in each
 T. Pongam et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 28 (8) (2014) 3377~3385 3379

Fig. 4. Thermal system of Zone 1.

Fig. 6. Thermal system of Zone 3.

Fig. 5. Thermal system of Zone 2.

Fig. 7. Thermal system of Zone 4.

zone.
In the thermal system, we consider the heat transfer of Zone The overall heat transfer of Zone 4 is shown in Fig. 7, and
1 because of different temperatures, as shown in Fig. 1. The the system equation can be expressed as
thermal system of this zone is shown in Fig. 4. The overall
heat transfer of Zone 1 can be expressed as dT4
C4 = -Qconv 42 - Q flow 42 - Qconv 43 + Qburner 4 - Qdist4 , (4a)
dt
dT1
C1 = Qconv 21 + Q flow 21 - Q fluegas , (1a) dT (T - T )
C4 4 = - 4 2 - m& a 42c p (T4 - T2 ) - 4 3
(T - T )
dt
dt R42 R43 (4b)
dT (T - T )
C1 1 = 2 1 + m& a 21c p (T2 - T1 ) - m& a10c p (T1 - T0 ) . (1b) &
+ c × m f 4 LHV - Qdist4 .
dt R21

The overall heat transfer of Zone 2 is shown in Fig. 5, and
the system equation can be expressed as
dT1
C1 = -Qconv 21 - Q flow 21 + Qconv 32 + Q flow32
dt
+ Qconv 42 + Q flow 42 + Qburner - Qdist2 ,
Thermal resistance occurs during heat transfers between
zones. Thus, thermal resistance is a function of Reynolds
number, air flow rate, and zone temperature. The thermal re-
sistance of each zone is expressed as
(2a)
- xij m& aij
Rij = R0ijTi . (5)

C1
dT1 (T - T ) (T - T )
= - 2 1 - m& a 21c p (T2 - T1 ) + 3 2 - m& a 32c p (T3 - T2 )
dt R21 R32 Loss function compensation is used to compensate for con-
(T - T ) duction heat transfer, heat transfer of residue billets in each
+ 4 2 - m& c (T4 - T2 ) + a × m& f 2 LHV - Qdist 2 .
a 42 p zone, and radiation heat transfer of reheating furnace wall.
R42
(2b) Loss function compensation depends on the fuel flow rate and
exponential time variance. Thus, the loss function is given by
The overall heat transfer of Zone 3 is shown in Fig. 6, and bi
the system equation can be expressed as ( ) (1 - e ).
Qdisti = a i m& f -g i t
(6)

dT3 2.2 Mathematical model of the fuel flow control through the
C3 = -Qconv 32 - Q flow32 + Qconv 43 + Qburner 3 - Qdist 3 , (3a)
dt servo valve
dT (T - T )
C3 3 = - 3 2 - m& a 32c p (T3 - T2 ) + 4 3
(T - T )
dt R32 R43 (3b) The actuator of the fuel flow control system is the servo
valve. The system input is the PI controller signal, whereas the
+ b × m& f 3 LHV - Qdist3 .
output is the fuel flow rate. The mathematical model of fuel
3380 T. Pongam et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 28 (8) (2014) 3377~3385

flow control through the servo valve [19] is expressed as Table 3. Parameter estimation of the RFWHT model.

Parameter estimation
mf (s) Ki
= . (7) Result 1 Result 2 Average
u PI ( s ) tis + 1
C1 2.88 × 107 2.94 × 107 2.91 × 107
C2 1.71 × 107 1.75 × 107 1.73 × 107
3. Open-loop Identification using GA C3 9.01 × 10 6
9.21 × 10 6
9.11 × 106
The mathematical model for temperature control of the C4 9.01 × 10 6
9.21 × 10 6
9.11 × 106
RFWHT during setup can be estimated on the basis of ex- R21 0.0178 0.01865 0.01823
perimental data. In the opening process, the burners will be R32 0.00744 0.00751 0.00747
successively opened from Zones 2-4. The system identifica-
R42 0.007444 0.007507 0.007476
tion method can estimate the system parameters on the basis
R34 0.00048 0.00058 0.00053
of the error between temperature response and fuel flow rate
x21 0.28247 0.29534 0.2889
in each zone. For the mathematical model of RFWHT, the
error is the difference between model temperature and the x32 0.61628 0.64488 0.63058
measured reheating furnace temperature. The temperature of x42 0.61628 0.64488 0.63058
the reheating furnace increases according to the fuel flow a 2 C2 0.03057 0.03705 0.03381
passing through the burners in each zone. The logical criterion b2 0.206076 0.17056 0.18832
can be fitted to the function of GA, and the mean sum square g2 0.00076 0.00079 0.00077
error for the mathematical model of the RFWHT can be ex- a 3 C3 0.03954 0.03942 0.03948
pressed as b3 0.3139 0.32843 0.32116
g3 0.00068 0.00069 0.00069
n
1 2
e=
N
å éëTx ( i ) - T%x ( i )ùû ,
i =1
(8) a 4 C4 0.03954 0.03942 0.03948
b4 0.313903 0.328426 0.321165
g4 0.00068 0.00069 0.00069
where N denotes the total amount of data, Tx is the measured
a 0.68789 0.71234 0.70012
temperature from the reheating furnace during the setup proc-
b 0.90868 0.89975 0.90422
ess, x is the zone number (x = 2, 3, 4), and T%x is the tempera-
c 0.90868 0.89975 0.90422
ture response from the mathematical model of the RFWHT.
The population of GA is 200, and the GA cycle is 50000. In Fuel Flow
the parameter estimation of the RFWHT mathematical model, 1200
Fuel Flow zone2
system identification is accomplished by using GA with ex- Fuel Flow zone3
1000 Fuel Flow zone4
perimental data from Ratchasima Steel Products Co., Ltd.
Factory. The GA with two sets of experimental data is used 800
Fuel Flow (Liter/hr)

for system parameter estimation. The estimated parameters are

shown in Table 3. 600
The fuel flow rate of the first experiment is shown in Fig. 8.
The percentage error of the simulation from the average pa- 400

rameters of the first experiment is 7.11. This study investigates

the thermal resistance (Eq. (5)) and the loss function compen- 200

sation (Eq. (6)) from the trend of the experimental data on the
0
basis of the heat transfer principle [20]. The temperature re- 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000
Time (sec)
sponse in each zone is shown in Figs. 9-11. The results of the
temperature response between the experiment and simulation Fig. 8. Fuel flow rate of the first experiment in each zone.
are in accordance with these mathematical models.
For the mathematical model of fuel flow control through the
servo valve, parameter estimation can be investigated by using where N is the total amount of data, m& f is the fuel flow rate
)
from the reheating furnace in the setup process, and m& f is
x

the error between fuel flow rate from the servo valve and fuel x

flow rate from the mathematical model in each zone. The the fuel flow rate from the mathematical model. The system
mean sum square error for the mathematical model of fuel identification for the estimation of the mathematical model
flow control through the servo valve can be expressed as parameters of fuel flow control through the servo valve is
demonstrated in this work. The fuel flow rate of Zone 2 is
1 n
) 2 larger than that of Zones 3 and 4. Therefore, we can create two
ef =
N
å éëm& ( i ) - m& ( i )ùû
i =1
fx fx , (9) models. The first model represents the servo valve of Zone 2,
 T. Pongam et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 28 (8) (2014) 3377~3385 3381

Heating zone (T2) Table 4. Parameter estimation of the servo valve model.
1150
Experiment
1100 Parameter estimation
Simulation
1050
Result 1 Result 2 Average
1000
K2 16.38 16.25 16.32
Temperature (C)

950
t2 5.6 5.89 5.75
900
K3 , K 4 3.6 3.66 3.63
850
t 3 ,t 4 5.38 5.19 5.28
800

750 Fuel Flow (Heating zone)

800
700 Simulation
750
Experiment
650
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 700
Time (sec)
650

Fuel Flow (Liter/hr)

Fig. 9. Temperature response of the first experiment in Zone 2. 600

550
Soaking zone (T3)
1100
500
Experiment
1050
Simulation 450
1000
400
950
350
Temperature (C)

900
300
850 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000
Time (sec)
800

750 Fig. 12. Fuel flow rate of the first experiment in Zone 2.
700
Fuel Flow (Soaking zone)
650 250

Simulation
600
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 Experiment
Time (sec)
200
Fig. 10. Temperature response of the first experiment in Zone 3.
Fuel Flow (Liter/hr)

Soaking zone (T4)

1100 150

Experiment
1050
Simulation
1000
100
950
Temperature (C)

900

850 50
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000

800 Time(sec)

750 Fig. 13. Fuel flow rate of the first experiment in Zones 3 and 4.
700

650
first experiment are compared with the simulation results in
600
0 2000 4000 6000
Time (sec)
8000 10000 12000 Figs. 12 and 13.

Fig. 11. Temperature response of the first experiment in Zone 4.
whereas the second model represents the servo valve of Zones
3 and 4. Result 1 is obtained from the first experiment,
whereas Result 2 is obtained from the second experiment. The
estimated parameters of each model are shown in Table 4.
The simulated fuel flow rate response is used to obtain the
average of the system parameters. The percentage error be-
tween the first model and the first experiment is 1.6. The per-
centage error between the second model and the first experi-
ment is 1.62. Additionally, the fuel flow rate responses of the
4. Coefficient of PI controller design
The closed-loop temperature control system of RFWHT
during the setup process is a multiple input multiple output
system. The specification of the temperature response in each
zone is obtained from the condition of the PI controller design.
Steel production manufacturing commences at 10.30 P.M.
The temperature in Zone 2 must be 1080°C before 10.00 P.M.
(9000 s). The required temperature reference of Zones 3 and 4
is 1050°C. The initial temperature of each zone ranges from
600°C to 700°C. The overshoot of temperature response is
less than or equal to 15°C. The parameters (Ki, Kp) of the PI
3382 T. Pongam et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 28 (8) (2014) 3377~3385

Table 5. Coefficients of the PI controller. Table 6. Maximum overshoot in each zone.

Zone 2 Zone 3 Zone 4

Kp Ki
Maximum
12.4 8.3 9.2
Zone 2 35 0.292 overshoot (°C)
Zone 3 25 0.078
Heating zone (T2)
Zone 4 25 0.078 1150
Setpoint
1100
Experiment
1050 Simulation

1000

Temperature (C)
950

900

850

800

750

700

650
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
Time (sec)

Fig. 15. Temperature response of Zone 2.

Soaking zone (T3)

1100
Setpoint
1050 Experiment
Simulation
1000

950
Temperature (C)

Fig. 14. Optimization algorithm for determining PI gains.

900

850

controller can be investigated by using the optimization pro- 800

gram with the mathematical model for the temperature control 750

system under the conditions of the temperature reference in 700

each zone. In this research, the optimization algorithm for 650
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
determining the controller parameters using random value Time (sec)

processes is shown in Fig. 14.

Fig. 16. Temperature response of Zone 3.

5. Experimental and simulation results 1100

Soaking zone (T4)

Setpoint
The closed-loop temperature control system in the setting 1050 Experiment
up process is composed of the PI controller, the servo valve, 1000
Simulation

and the RFWHT system. The temperature reference condi-

950
tions in each zone are objective functions of the optimization
Temperature (C)

900
program for determining the coefficients of a suitable PI con-
troller. The program can define the coefficients of the PI con- 850

troller in each zone. The results are shown in Table 5. The 800

coefficients of the PI controller in Zones 3 and 4 are obtained 750

from the same processes because the temperature control sys-
700
tems use similar equipment.
650
The following figures show the test results of the designed 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
Time (sec)
PI controller. The first experiment has an initial temperature of
680°C. The temperature of Zone 2 must be 1080°C before Fig. 17. Temperature response of Zone 4.
9.30 P.M. (7,200 s), as shown in Fig. 15. The temperature of
Zone 3 is increased to 1050°C before 10.00 P.M. (9,000 s), as
shown in Fig. 16. The temperature of Zone 4 is increased to zone.
1050°C before 10.00 P.M. (9000 s), as shown in Fig. 17. In the preparation process using the original controller pa-
Moreover, Table 6 shows the maximum overshoot in each rameters, the maximum fuel consumption rate is 5120 L for
 T. Pongam et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 28 (8) (2014) 3377~3385 3383

Fuel Flow
1400 R12 : Thermal resistance between Zones 1 and 2 (°C·s/J)
Fuel flow zone 2
Fuel flow zone 3
R23 : Thermal resistance between Zones 2 and 3 (°C·s/J)
1200 Fuel flow zone 4 R3 : Thermal resistance between Zones 2 and 4 (°C·s/J)
R4 : Thermal resistance between Zones 3 and 4 (°C·s/J)
1000
C1 : Thermal capacitance of Zone 1 (J/°C)
Fuel Flow (Liter/hr)

C2 : Thermal capacitance of Zone 2 (J/°C)

800
C3 : Thermal capacitance of Zone 3 (J/°C)
600 C4 : Thermal capacitance of Zone 4 (J/°C)
Qconv21 : Heat transfer through the furnace wall by conduc-
400 tion and convection from Zone 2 to Zone 1 (J/s)
Qconv32 : Heat transfer through the furnace wall by conduc-
200
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 tion and convection from Zone 3 to Zone 2 (J/s)
Time (sec) Qconv42 : Heat transfer through the furnace wall by conduc-
Fig. 18. Fuel consumption rate in each zone (for modified PI gains). tion and convection from Zone 4 to Zone 2 (J/s)
Qconv43 : Heat transfer through the furnace wall by conduc-
tion and convection from Zone 4 to Zone 3 (J/s)
one preparation process. After controller parameter modifica- Qflow21 : Convective heat transfer from Zone 2 to Zone 1
tion, the fuel consumption rate is decreased to 3816 L, as (J/s)
shown in Fig. 18. Qflow32 : Convective heat transfer from Zone 3 to Zone 2
(J/s)
Qflow42 : Convective heat transfer from Zone 4 to Zone 2
6. Conclusions (J/s)
The mathematical model of the temperature control system Qflow43 : Convective heat transfer from Zone 4 to Zone 3
for RFWHT during the setup process was presented. The (J/s)
closed-loop temperature control system was designed, and the Rij : Thermal resistance of each zone (°C/W)
coefficients of the PI controller in each zone were obtained. m& aij : Air flow rate from Zone i to Zone j
The results indicated that the maximum overshoot of tempera- R0ij : Initial thermal resistance between Zone i and Zone j
ture response is less than 15°C under the required conditions. Ti : Temperature in zone i
The maximum overshoot values in each zone for this study xij : Constant
were 12.4°C, 8.3°C, and 9.2°C. Additionally, these values Qdisti : Loss function compensation of zone i (W)
were related to the reference temperature conditions in each m& f : Fuel flow rate (kg/s)
zone. Therefore, the modified PI controller exhibited higher a , b ,g : Constants
efficiency than that of the original controller. The performance uPI : The control signal of the PI controller
can be attributed to the fuel consumption rate between the Ki : Servo valve static flow gain
original PI controller and the modified controller. The experi- τi : Servo valve time constant
mental results showed that the fuel consumption rate de- mf : Fuel mass flow
creased by 25.4% from 5120 L to 3816 L. Qdist2 : Compensate heat transfer of Zone 2 (J/s)
Qdist3 : Compensate heat transfer of Zone 3 (J/s)
Qdist4 : Compensate heat transfer of Zone 4 (J/s)
Acknowledgments Qfluegas : Heat loss from Zone 1 to ambient (J/s)
The authors would like to thank and acknowledge the re- Qburner2 : Heat flow rate from the burner at Zone 2 (J/s)
search grant from Suranaree University of Technology and Qburner3 : Heat flow rate from the burner at Zone 3 (J/s)
Ratchasima Steel Products Co., Ltd. Factory (Nakhon Ratcha- Qburner4 : Heat flow rate from the burner at Zone 4 (J/s)
sima, Thailand). α2 : Coefficient of Qdist related to heat transfer
2

α3 : Coefficient of Qdist related to heat transfer

3

α4 : Coefficient of Qdist related to heat transfer

Nomenclature------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4

β2 : Coefficient of Qdist related to air flow rate

2

T1 : Temperature of Zone 1 (°C) β3 : Coefficient of Qdist related to air flow rate

3

T2 : Temperature of Zone 2 (°C) β4 : Coefficient of Qdist related to air flow rate

4

T3 : Temperature of Zone 3 (°C) X21 : Coefficient of thermal resistance R21

T4 : Temperature of Zone 4 (°C) X32 : Coefficient of thermal resistance R32
T0 : Ambient temperature (30°C) X42 : Coefficient of thermal resistance R42
T2_ref : Temperature reference of Zone 2 (°C) LHV : Low heating value (24.5 MJ/kg)
T3_ref : Temperature reference of Zone 3 (°C) cp : Thermal capacitance at constant pressure (1130
T4_ref : Temperature reference of Zone 4 (°C) J/kg·°C)
3384 T. Pongam et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 28 (8) (2014) 3377~3385
m& a 2 : Air flow rate of Zone 2 (kg/s)
m& a 3 : Air flow rate of Zone 3 (kg/s)
m& a 4 : Air flow rate of Zone 4 (kg/s)
m& f 2 : Fuel flow rate of Zone 2 (kg/s)
m& f 3 : Fuel flow rate of Zone 3 (kg/s)
m& f 4 : Fuel flow rate of Zone 4 (kg/s)
a, b, c : Incomplete combustion factors
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Jiraphon Srisertpol is an Assistant
Professor in the School of Mechanical
Engineering, Institute of Engineering,
Suranaree University of Technology,
Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. He ob-
tained his Ph.D. in System Analysis,
Control, and Processing Information
from St. Petersburg State University of
Aerospace Instrumentation in Russia. He is a senior member
of IACSIT and the head of the system and control engineering
laboratory. His research interests include mathematical model-
ing, adaptive system, and vibration analysis.
 T. Pongam et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 28 (8) (2014) 3377~3385
Thanawat Pongam is a graduate
student in the School of Mechanical
Engineering, Institute of Engineering,
Suranaree University of Technology,
Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. He
obtained his Master’s degree in Mecha-
nical Engineering from Suranaree Uni-
versity of Technology in Thailand. His
research interests include system identification and control
system design.
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3385
Vorapot Khomphis is an Associate
Professor in the School of Mechanical
Engineering, Institute of Engineering,
Suranaree University of Technology,
Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. He
obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engi-
neering from Michigan State University
in the USA. His research interests
include the finite element method and heat transfer.