Abstract:A numerical model of a cylindrical regenerative aluminum melting furnace was developed according to its operation characteristics. By including the standard k—ε model, the species transport model and the P-1 radiation model to describe the turbulent combustion process in the furnace, and applying the equivalent specific heat method to describe the aluminum melting process, a transient and multi-fields coupled simulation was carried out to investigate the thermal alternation processes in the inlet and outlet areas of the furnace. The simulation results of the standard operation case show that, compared with the traditional operation with one burner, a more uniform temperature distribution can be achieved in the switch operation of two burners. In particular, the temperature rises quickly in the first three hours, followed by a slower rising due to heat absorbed by the melting alumina in the furnace. More simulations were carried out based on the orthogonal design to optimize the main five parameters that have significant influences on the process. The results indicate that an optimal operation condition can be achieved with the burner height of 657 mm, the vertical burner angle of 25°, the horizontal angle between two burners of 90°, the excess air coefficient of 1.1 and the air preheating temperature of 800 ℃. Compared with the result of the standard operation case, one hour can be reduced in the melting time of the alumina in the optimal condition, which is equivalent to 20% reduction in the energy consumption.

Key words: aluminum melting furnace; orthogonal experiment; numerical simulation; optimization