The present technology offers a real-time, temperature sensing system for monitoring the cold face temperature of a billet mold along its length and to predict breakout in a live billet caster well in advance. This technology uses Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) as a temperature sensor. Multiple sensors were written on a single optical fiber and embedded along the length of a billet mold. The interrogation of these sensors allowed for temperatures to be obtained along the length of the mold from a single strand of the optical fiber. In addition to the development of the packaged FBG sensor array, its installation in the harsh conditions (high temperature, high pressure, restricted space) of an operating caster has called for considerable engineering ingenuity. This too has been successfully accomplished. Technology has already been implemented at one of the casters in the renowned steel industry and break out has been successfully detected in one strand in a live caster.
Strand of an array of FBG sensors in a fiber
. Proper encapsulation of fiber with an array of FBGs
. Installation of encapsulated fiber on the machined Cu- mold
. Test of output signals from the sensors on fixing of the mold in the caster.
Software for analyzing data to detect breakout and creating alarm prior to the breakout.
National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML)
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