, Description:TECHNICAL FIELD
Present disclosure relates in general to field of metallurgy and furnace. Particularly, but not exclusively, the present disclosure relates to system and method for measuring burden profile distribution inside a blast furnace.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE
Iron making process using blast furnace may be considered to be a leading process for providing steel making raw materials. Operation performed inside the blast furnaces are considered as black boxes. This is due to the fact that implementation of any direct measurement technique inside the blast furnace is hindered by harsh conditions inside the blast furnace. The blast furnace being mother plant for an integrated steel plant, any disturbance in the blast furnace may drastically and adversely affect overall production.

Among all factors that influence operations of the blast furnace, profile distribution of surface of burden inside the blast furnace is most important factor that is to be measured. Such burden profile distribution helps in modulating burden charging sequences to increase productive efficiency and reducing power resource consumption. Also, knowledge of changing burden profile distribution of burden material in the blast furnace is a valuable aid in improving the stability and control of furnace operation. The burden profile distribution is directly influenced by gas permeability, which is result of the charging angle juxtaposition. With uniform gas permeability, iron-making productivity and furnace campaign life are incremented in a high heat utilization furnace. It is required to achieve an accurate measurement of the burden profile distribution without gas leakage risks and heavy maintaining load. However, with high temperatures and pressure and hostile atmosphere, both performance and life cycle of installed mechanisms of measurements may be affected negatively. It may be particularly difficult to understand the distribution of burden materials because of the complex behavior of particular materials.

Obtaining a burden profile distribution for the blast furnace at an elevated accuracy, resolution and high data throughput is a demanding task in research field of metrology. Many techniques for performing measurement of the burden profile distribution include installing multiple units with mechanical movement. However, engineering costs of such techniques are prohibitive. Some convention techniques depend on mathematical models and approximations to operate the blast furnace. Such modelling methods to measure the burden profile distribution may be implemented using physical experiment method or mechanism-based method or data-driven method. Application of measuring technologies using hardware component placed inside the furnace have been hindered by the harsh conditions in the blast furnaces. Also, building compact size prototypes for measuring the burden profile distribution have lacked the accuracy because of situations such as charging of burden in real-time, high temperature environment and so on.

Some non-contact methods including vision-based methods, interferometry, as well as time-of-flight technique may be implemented to measure the burden profile distribution. In that, the time-of-flight technique uses laser light and microwave for the measurement. However, due to nature of the laser light, measurements using such techniques can be performed at scheduled shutdowns during which time dust intensity inside the blast furnace is much reduced. Since, during the operation of the blast furnace, material powders are stirred by up-rising hot blast. Lasers may not be feasible for dusty environment and erroneous alignment.

Conventional radars utilize a traditional rotating dish antenna, which mechanically change the direction of its signal beams. With conventional radars only single scan measurement is possible and that is usually a top scan. The antenna moves physically among set positions for transmitting and receiving radar signals at each position. Because rotating antennas can only update tracking information once per revolution, they offer slower and less-effective performance. Additionally, with such conventional radars, multiple installations may be required to get the burden profile distribution. These multiple installations spike up the cost and with no moving part only a 2D profile or a pseudo 3D profile is obtained. Further, conventional radars are prone to mechanical problems which can result in sudden and complete failure to function of the radars. Also, the conventional radars are prone to false echoes from various surrounding metallic structures which are usually present at industrial site. This affects the measurement statistics greatly and limits the range to few meters. Ultrasonic based measurement may be implemented. However, as the nature of waves are longitudinal, the measurements tend to suffer in terms of temperature and pressure variations. Also, such measurements pursue difficulties in reading reflections from soft, curved, thin and small object.

The information disclosed in this background of the disclosure section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed disclosure.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a system for measuring burden profile distribution in a blast furnace. The system comprises a phased array-based radar unit which is configured to perform plurality of scans in interior of a blast furnace using electronic beamforming. Further, the phased array-based radar unit is configured to measure burden profile distribution inside the blast furnace based on the plurality of scans.

Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a method for measuring burden profile distribution in a blast furnace. The method is performed by a phased array-based radar unit. The method comprises to perform plurality of scans in interior of a blast furnace using electronic beamforming. Further, the method comprises to measure burden profile distribution inside the blast furnace based on the plurality of scans.

It is to be understood that the aspects and embodiments of the disclosure described above may be used in any combination with each other. Several of the aspects and embodiments may be combined together to form a further embodiment of the disclosure.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING FIGURES
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed principles. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and regarding the accompanying figures, in which:

Figures 1a, 1b and 1c illustrate schematic representations of a system for measuring burden profile distribution inside a blast furnace, in accordance with some embodiments of present disclosure;

Figure 2 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for measuring burden profile distribution inside a blast furnace, in accordance with some embodiments of present disclosure; and

Figures 3a-3e illustrate exemplary embodiments associated with a system for measuring burden profile distribution inside a blast furnace, in accordance with some embodiments of present disclosure.

It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and executed by a computer or processor, whether such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the scope of the disclosure.

The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by “comprises… a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or method.

The terms “includes”, “including”, or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device or method that includes a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by “includes… a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or method.

In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

Present disclosure discloses a system and method for measuring burden profile distribution in a blast furnace. The system includes phased array-based radar unit with electronic beamforming for measuring burden profile distribution inside a blast furnace. The phased array-based radar unit includes an antenna unit placed interior to the blast furnace and a processing unit placed exterior to the blast furnace. The proposed system is configured to perform plurality of scans inside the blast furnace and measure the burden profile distribution based on the plurality of scans. The proposed system is a compact scanning system which accurately measures the burden profile distribution without obstructing normal operation of the blast furnace.

Figures 1a illustrates schematic representation of a system for measuring burden profile distribution in a blast furnace 104. The system may be implemented in an exemplary environment 100 comprising the blast furnace 104. The blast furnace 104 is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals. The industrials metals may include, but are not limited to, pig iron, lead, copper and so on. The blast furnace 104 may be a vertical shaft furnace that produces liquid metals by reaction of a flow of air introduced under pressure into bottom of the blast furnace 104 with a mixture of materials fed into top. The mixture may include, but is not limited to, at least one of metallic ore, coke, limestone, hematite and flux The mixture may be termed as “burden” or “charge”. Studies on operation of blast furnace 104 include to measure or determine charge level distribution shape (also termed as burden profile distribution) inside the blast furnace 104. Such measurement may be used to effectively control gas injection into the blast furnace 104 and smooth operation of the blast furnace 104. Therefore, measurement of the burden profile distribution is an important step of automated operation of the blast furnace 104. The measuring of the burden profile distribution includes to accurately obtains burden shape information in real-time. The proposed system is configured to accurately obtain the burden profile distribution in the blast furnace 104 without affecting the operations of the blast furnace 104.

The system for measuring the burden profile distribution in the blast furnace 104 comprises a phased array-based radar unit 101. The phased array-based radar unit 101 is configured to perform plurality of scans interior of the blast furnace 104 using electronic beamforming. Further, the phased array-based radar unit 101 is configured to measure the burden profile distribution inside the blast furnace 104 based on the plurality of scans. In an embodiment, the phased array-based radar unit 101 may include an antenna unit 102 and a processing unit 103. The plurality of scans may be performed using the antenna unit 102. The measurement of the burden profile distribution may be performed by the processing unit 103.

The antenna unit 102 may be configured to transmit and receive signals using stationed antenna elements in the interior of the blast furnace 104. The antenna unit 102 in the phased array-based radar unit 101 includes an array of one or more antennas which are controlled to create beam of radio waves. The beam of radio waves are electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the antennas. Such steering of radio waves may be referred to as the electronic beamforming. Further, radio frequency current from transmitter associated with the phased array-based radar unit 101 is fed to each of the one or more antenna elements with correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from each of the one or more antenna elements add together to increase radiation in a desired direction. Such radiation also aids in suppressing radiation in undesired directions. In an embodiment, each of the one or more antenna elements may be a circular patch configured to radiate microwave energy. The one or more antenna elements may be arranged in form of array matrix. In an embodiment, each of the one or more antenna elements may implement beam forming circuit to provision 2D surface scanning. In an embodiment, transmitter of the antenna unit 102 comprises a phase locked oscillator at 2.2 GHz along with a high-power amplifier for feeding each of the one or more antenna elements. In an embodiment, the receiver of the antenna unit 102 comprises a super-heterodyne receiver, which consists of a low noise amplifier, mixer, and a local oscillator for faithful detection of the transmitted power. In an embodiment, each of the one or more antenna elements may be designed for 2Ghz, having 5dB gain. Further, usable impedance bandwidth of the antenna unit 102 may be 80 MHz and usable gain bandwidth of the antenna unit 102 may be 60 MHz. In an embodiment, the transmitter and the receiver may be of desirable specification to transmit and receive signal for measuring the burden profile distribution.

In the phased array-based radar unit 101, power from the transmitter is fed to the one or more antennas elements through devices called phase shifters. In an embodiment, the phase shifters may be controlled by the processing unit 103 to alter the phase electronically and thus steer the beam of the radio waves to a different direction. In an embodiment, the phased array-based radar unit 101 may include a 16-way power divider, and each way is connected to a singular phase shifter. Additionally, each of the phase shifter is associated with an antenna element from the one or more antenna elements. Hence, each of the one or more antenna elements is associated with a dedicated phase shifter. In a preferable embodiment, the number of one or more antenna elements in the antenna unit 102 may be 16. In an embodiment, the number of the one or more antenna elements may be selected as desirable for measuring the burden profile distribution.

The receiver associated with the phased array-based radar unit 101 is configured to receive the reflected beams from the surface of the burden. In an embodiment, each of the one or more antenna elements may be associated with analog transmit/receive module, which is configured to transmit and receive the radio wave, for measuring the burden profile distribution. In an embodiment, the measured radiation pattern from the phased array-based radar unit 101 is capable of sweeping the beam to +- 50 degrees in both azimuth and elevation planes. The radiation pattern with such sweep is sufficient to generate a cross sectional profile of the blast furnace 104.

In an embodiment, as shown in Figure 1a and Figure 1b, the antenna unit 102 may be placed on inner surface of top cone of the blast furnace 104. In such embodiment, as shown in Figure 1c, the antenna unit 102 may be oriented at a predefined angle on the inner surface to perform the plurality of scans. The orientation of the antenna unit 102 is in such a way that entire region across a stock line 105 of the blast furnace 104 is scanned by the antenna unit 102. Consider the predefined angle is maximum scan angle and is denoted as “?”, as shown in Figure 1b. If ‘x’ is length of the stock line 105 and ‘h’ is distance of the antenna unit 102 from the stock line 105, then the predefined angle may be determined using equation 1 given below:
? = tan^(-1)??h/x? ………. (1)

In an embodiment, the plurality of scans are performed for plurality of diameters in cross section of area at the stock line 105 of the blast furnace 104. In an embodiment, each of the plurality of scans comprises scanning of plurality of predefined regions across corresponding diameter from the plurality of diameters. In an embodiment, size of each of the plurality of predefined regions is directly proportional to the predefined angle associated with orientation of the antenna unit 102. In an embodiment, the number of the plurality of scans required to cover the whole blast furnace 104 may be 17 and time required for completing the plurality of scans may be 170 milli seconds.

In another embodiment, the antenna unit 102 may comprise one or more antennas. Each of the one or more antennas may comprise one or more antenna elements. Each of the one or more antenna elements of each of the one or more antennas may be configured to transmit and receive radio waves in interior of the blast furnace 104 to perform the plurality of scans. In an embodiment, each of the one or more antennas may be oriented at respective predefined angle such that the plurality of scans are performed to cover the entire region along the stock line 105 of the blast furnace 104.

In an embodiment, the processing unit 103 is electronically coupled with the antenna unit 102. The radio beams or signals received by the antenna unit 102 may be provided to the processing unit 103 for processing and measuring the burden profile distribution inside the blast furnace 104. As shown in Figure 1a, the processing unit 103 may be placed exterior to the blast furnace 104. Thus, the processing unit 103 may not be impacted by higher temperatures of the blast furnace 104. In an embodiment, the processing unit 103 may include a processor, I/O interface, and a memory (not shown in the figure). In some embodiments, the memory may be communicatively coupled to the processor. The memory stores instructions, executable by the processor, which, on execution, may cause the processing unit 103 to measure the burden profile distribution, as disclosed in the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the memory may include one or more modules and data. The one or more modules may be configured to perform the steps of the present disclosure using the data, to measure the burden profile distribution. In an embodiment, each of the one or more modules may be a hardware unit which may be outside the memory and coupled with the processing unit 103. In an embodiment, the processing unit 103, for measuring the burden profile distribution, may be implemented in a variety of computing systems, such as a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a Personal Computer (PC), a notebook, a smartphone, a tablet, e-book readers, a server, a network server, a cloud-based server and the like. In an embodiment, the processing unit 103 may be implemented in a cloud-based server or a dedicated server and may be in communication with the antenna unit 102 via a communication network. The communication network may include, without limitation, a direct interconnection, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), wireless network (e.g., using Wireless Application Protocol), the Internet, and the like. In an embodiment, the processing unit 103 may be configured to receive and transmit data via the I/O interface. The received data may include but is not limited to the radio beams from the antenna unit 102. The transmitted data may include, but is not limited to, the measured burden profile distribution.

In an embodiment, the processing unit 103 may be configured to measure one-dimensional (1D) burden profile distribution from each of the plurality of scans. Further, the processing unit 103 may be configured to interpolate the 1D burden profile distribution measured for adjacent diameters from the plurality of diameters to determine one or more interpolated burden profile distributions. The 1D burden profile distribution from each of the plurality of scans along with the one or more interpolated burden profile distributions are used for measuring a Three-Dimensional (3D) burden profile distribution of the blast furnace 104. In an embodiment, the processing unit 103 may be associated with a display unit. The display unit may be configured to display at least one of the 1D burden profile distribution, the one or more interpolated burden profile distributions and the 3D burden profile distribution of the blast furnace 104.

Figure 2 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for measuring the burden profile distribution inside the blast furnace 104.

Using the proposed system, the steps of method of measuring the burden profile distribution may be performed in real-time, without altering regular operation of the blast furnace 104. Further, the method is performed using the phased array-based radar unit 101 which includes the antenna unit 102 and the processing unit 103. The phased array-based radar unit 101 is configured to perform the plurality of scans without any mechanical moving parts.

At block 201, the antenna unit 102 of the phased array-based radar unit 101 may be configured to perform the plurality of scans in interior of the blast furnace 104 using the electronic beamforming. In an embodiment, electronics associated with the antenna unit 102 may be made of ceramic or any other material that helps to withstand harsh conditions inside the blast furnace 104. In an embodiment, the plurality of scans may be performed by transmitting and receiving signals in the interior of the blast furnace 104 using stationed antenna elements of the antenna unit 102. The stationed antenna unit 102 eliminate the need for movable parts inside the blast furnace 104 for performing the plurality of scans. The antenna unit 102 may be placed on inner surface of top cone of the blast furnace 104. In an embodiment, electronics configured to perform transmitting and receiving of the signal may be installed inside the blast furnace 104. In an embodiment, the electronics may be enclosed with a housing to protect from dusty environment inside the blast furnace 104. In an embodiment, the antenna unit 102 may be placed at the predefined angle on the inner surface to perform the plurality of scans. The predefined angle may be calculated with respect to width of the region to be scanned i.e., the length of the stock line 105 and distance of the antenna unit 102 from the region to be scanned. Thus, the predefined angle may also be the maximum angle for scan to be covered by the plurality of scans. In an embodiment, the antenna unit 102 may be placed at top of the cone of the blast furnace 104, along vertical axis of the blast furnace 104. The placement of the antenna unit 102 needs to be optimal to scan entire region inside the blast furnace 104.

In an embodiment, the plurality of scans may be performed for plurality of diameters in cross section area at the stock line 105 of the blast furnace 104. An exemplary representation of the plurality of scans is shown in Figure 3a. In the exemplary representation, number of the plurality of scans is 4, including scan 1, scan 2, scan 3 and scan 4. Each of the plurality of scans includes scanning of plurality of predefined regions across corresponding diameter from the plurality of diameters. The predefined regions are represented as circular regions in Figure 3a. In an embodiment, size of each of the plurality of predefined regions is directly proportional to a predefined angle associated with orientation of the antenna unit 102. As shown in Figure 3b, the size of a predefined region 301 from the plurality of predefined regions may be measured as width of the predefined region 301. The size of all of the plurality of predefined regions may be uniform. In an embodiment, number of the plurality of scans may be inversely proportional to the size. In an embodiment, the size may be directly proportional to the predefined angle. By increasing the predefined angle associated with the antenna unit 102, the size of predefined region may also be increased. Thus, by increasing the size, number of plurality of scans may be decreased. For example, for the predefined angle of 5.7 degrees, the size of the predefined region 301 in terms of beam width may be 11.4 degrees. For increasing the size, the predefined angle may be increased. In an embodiment, the number of antennas elements implemented in the antenna unit 102 may be inversely proportional to the beam width. Table 1 given below provides one or more examples with respect to number of the one or more antenna elements and respective beam width.

Array Configuration Number of antenna elements Beam width
2x2 4 35 deg
3x3 9 21 deg
4x4 16 deg
Table 1
In an embodiment, with higher frequency of the transmitter, focused beam angle for the equivalent size antenna may be achieved. However, the higher frequency may suffer from increased signal attenuation. Lower frequency of the transmitter may not be adversely affected by high levels of dust or steam inside the blast furnace 104. In an embodiment, to achieve a higher resolution of the burden profile distribution, lesser beam width may be optimal.

At block 202, upon performing the plurality of scans, the processing unit 103 of the phased array-based radar unit 101 may be configured to measure the burden profile distribution of the blast furnace 104. In an embodiment, the processing unit 103 may be electronically coupled with the antenna unit 102 to receive the signal from the antenna unit 102 and measure the burden profile distribution based on the received signal. In an embodiment, one or more techniques, known to a person skilled in the art, may be implemented in the processing unit 103, to measure the burden profile distribution. In an embodiment, the processing unit 103, upon processing the received signal, may output 1D burden profile distribution from each of the plurality of scans. An exemplary representation of the 1D burden profile distribution measures for each of the plurality of scans is shown in Figure 3c. Each dotted line in the graph represent the 1D burden profile distribution determined at respective predefined region in corresponding scan.

Upon obtaining the 1D burden profile distribution of the plurality of scans, the processing unit 103 may be configured to perform interpolation the 1D burden profile distribution measured for adjacent diameters from the plurality of diameters to determine one or more interpolated burden profile distributions. An exemplary representation of the one or more interpolated burden profile distributions is shown in Figure 3d, as shaded circular regions, between diameters of the plurality of scans. One or more techniques, known to a person skilled in the art, may be implemented in the processing unit 103, to perform the interpolation. Further, the processing unit 103 may be configured to measure the 3D burden profile distribution of the blast furnace 104 using the 1D burden profile distribution from each of the plurality of scans along with the one or more interpolated burden profile distributions. An exemplary representation of an image showing a 3D burden profile distribution 302 is illustrated in Figure 3e. In an embodiment, higher resolution of the 3D burden profile distribution 302 may be achieved by performing the interpolation.

In an embodiment, the plurality of scans and the measuring of the burden profile distribution may be performed during regular operation of the blast furnace 104. In an embodiment, the system may be configured to operate automatically at regular interval of time to perform the method 200. In an embodiment, the system may be configured to perform the step upon receiving trigger from a user associated with the blast furnace 104. In an embodiment, the burden profile distribution measured by the system may be used to control amount of gas/hot air injected inside the blast furnace 104. In an embodiment, a control unit (not shown in figure) may be fed with the burden profile distribution measured by the system, to automatically control injection of the gas/hot air by analyzing the burden profile distribution.

As illustrated in Figure 2, the method 200 may include one or more blocks for executing processes in the phased array-based radar unit 101. The method 200 may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, and functions, which perform particular functions or implement particular abstract data types.

The order in which the method 200 are described may not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the methods without departing from the scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof.

An embodiment of the present disclosure includes stationed antenna unit to perform plurality of scans. Thus, need for movable parts for efficient scan may be eliminated. Further, mechanical errors caused due to such movable parts are also reduced. Also, the system can be operated any time without obstructing normal operation of the blast furnace.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provisions a compact system where antenna part of the system is placed inside the blast furnace and processing part is placed outside the blast furnace. Thus, the proposed system may be easily compatible with any geometry of the blast furnace. Also, the antenna part included decoupled antenna and radar electronics which are protected against harsh condition in blast furnace.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provisions to perform efficient scanning and measurement of the burden profile distribution. Higher resolution of the burden profile distribution may be achieved by performed the interpolation of data obtained from scanned regions.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “the embodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “some embodiments”, and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments of the invention(s)” unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having” and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the invention.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a single device/article may be used in place of the more than one device or article or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of the invention need not include the device itself.

The illustrated operations of Figure 2 shows certain events occurring in a certain order. In alternative embodiments, certain operations may be performed in a different order, modified, or removed. Moreover, steps may be added to the above described logic and still conform to the described embodiments. Further, operations described herein may occur sequentially or certain operations may be processed in parallel. Yet further, operations may be performed by a single processing unit or by distributed processing units.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based here on. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope being indicated by the following claims.

Referral numerals:
Reference Number Description
100 Exemplary environment
101 Phased array-based radar unit
102 Antenna unit
103 Processing unit
104 Blast furnace
105 Stock line
301 Predefined region
302 3D burden profile distribution

Claims:WE CLAIM:
1. A system for measuring burden profile distribution in a blast furnace, the system comprises:
a phased array-based radar unit (101) configured to:
perform plurality of scans in interior of a blast furnace using electronic beamforming; and
measure burden profile distribution inside the blast furnace based on the plurality of scans.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the phased array-based radar unit (101) comprises:
an antenna unit (102) configured to perform the plurality of scans, by transmitting and receiving signals using stationed antenna elements, in the interior of the blast furnace; and
a processing unit (103), electronically coupled with the antenna unit (102), configured to process the received signals from the antenna unit (102), for measuring the burden profile distribution.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the antenna unit (102) is placed on inner surface of top cone of the blast furnace and the processing unit (103) is placed exterior to the blast furnace.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the antenna unit (102) is oriented at a predefined angle on the inner surface to perform the plurality of scans.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the antenna unit (102) comprises of one or more antennas.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of scans is performed for plurality of diameters in cross section of stock line area of the blast furnace, wherein each of the plurality of scans comprises scanning of plurality of predefined regions across corresponding diameter from the plurality of diameters.

7. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein size of each of the plurality of predefined regions is directly proportional to a predefined angle associated with orientation of the antenna unit (102).

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing unit (103) is configured to measure one-dimensional (1D) burden profile distribution from each of the plurality of scans.

9. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the processing unit (103) is configured to interpolate the 1D burden profile distribution measured for adjacent diameters from the plurality of diameters to determine one or more interpolated burden profile distributions, wherein the 1D burden profile distribution from each of the plurality of scans along with the one or more interpolated burden profile distributions are used for measuring a Three-Dimensional (3D) burden profile distribution of the blast furnace.

10. A method for measuring burden profile distribution in a blast furnace, the method comprising:
performing, by a phased array-based radar unit (101), plurality of scans in interior of a blast furnace using electronic beamforming; and
measuring, by the phased array-based radar unit (101), burden profile distribution inside the blast furnace based on the plurality of scans.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein performing the plurality of scans comprises transmitting and receiving signals in the interior of the blast furnace using stationed antenna elements of an antenna unit (102) of the phased array-based radar unit (101),
wherein measuring of the burden profile distribution comprises processing the received signals from the antenna unit (102), using a processing unit (103), electronically coupled with the antenna unit (102), of the phased array-based radar unit (101).

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the method comprising:
placing the antenna unit (102) on inner surface of top cone of the blast furnace; and
placing the processing unit (103) exterior to the blast furnace.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the method comprising orienting the antenna unit (102) at a predefined angle on the inner surface to perform the plurality of scans.

14. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the plurality of scans is performed for plurality of diameters in cross section of stock line area of the blast furnace, wherein each of the plurality of scans comprises scanning of plurality of predefined regions across corresponding diameter from the plurality of diameters.

15. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein size of each of the plurality of predefined regions is directly proportional to a predefined angle associated with orientation of the antenna unit (102).

16. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein measuring the burden profile distribution comprises measuring one-dimensional (1D) burden profile distribution from each of the plurality of scans.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein measuring the burden profile distribution comprises interpolating the 1D burden profile distribution measured for adjacent diameters from the plurality of diameters to determine one or more interpolated burden profile distributions, wherein the 1D burden profile distribution from each of the plurality of scans along with the one or more interpolated burden profile distributions are used for measuring a Three-Dimensional (3D) burden profile distribution of the blast furnace.