Abstract: A fine ratio measuring device that measures a ratio of fines adhering to the surface of a material in the form of lumps, the fine ratio measuring device includes: an illumination unit that illuminates the material in the form of lumps; a spectrometer that performs spectral analysis on light reflected from the material in the form of lumps to measure spectral reflectance; and an arithmetic device that extracts at least one feature quantity from the spectral reflectance measured by the spectrometer and computes the fine ratio from the extracted at least one feature quantity.

Abstract: A method for operating a blast furnace with which, even in the case where there is an increase in the powder ratio of coke to be charged into the blast furnace, it is possible to achieve the stabilization of blast furnace operation. The method includes blowing air through a tuyere disposed in a lower part of the blast furnace, successively measuring a particle size distribution of coke transported to the blast furnace, and adjusting at least one of a blast volume and a coke ratio in accordance with an index derived from the particle size distribution.

Abstract: A fine ratio measuring device that measures the fine ratio of fines adhering to the surface of the material in the form of lumps includes: an illumination unit that illuminates the material in the form of lumps; an imaging unit that captures an image of the material in the form of lumps and produces image data; and an arithmetic unit including a computation unit that computes a characteristic quantity of the image data produced by the imaging unit and a conversion unit that converts the characteristic quantity computed by the computation unit to the fine ratio.

Abstract: Provided are a raw material particle size distribution measuring apparatus and a particle size distribution measuring method. Also provided is a porosity measuring apparatus. The raw material particle size distribution measuring apparatus includes: a coarse particle measuring device that acquires information indicating the particle size distribution of the coarse particles; a fine particle measuring device that acquires information indicating the particle size distribution of the fine particles; and an arithmetic device that computes the particle size distribution of the coarse particles using the information indicating the particle size distribution of the coarse particles, computes the particle size distribution of the fine particles using the information indicating the particle size distribution of the fine particles, and computes an overall particle size distribution of the raw material using the particle size distribution of the coarse particles and the particle size distribution of the fine particles.

Abstract: An object is to measure the fine ratio, or the ratio of fines adhering to the surface of lumps of material, in real time with high accuracy. A fine ratio measuring method includes a step S1 of measuring a distance between a distance measuring device and lumps of material, a step S2 of calculating a feature quantity from distance data obtained in the step S1, and a step S3 of converting the feature quantity calculated in the step S2 to a fine ratio. The feature quantity calculated in the step S2 represents distance variation calculated from the distance data obtained in the step S1. A higher fine ratio in lumps of material means greater microscopic distance variation caused by microscopic irregularities in the surface of the lumps of material in the height direction within a three-dimensional shape. Therefore, by using the distance variation as the feature quantity, the fine ratio in the lumps of material can be measured in real time with high accuracy.

Abstract: A particle size distribution measurement apparatus includes a coarse grain measurement device that acquires information indicating distribution of coarse grains, an adherent powder measurement device that acquires information indicating distribution of adherent powder, and a computation device that calculates distribution of a raw material.

Abstract: Provided are a raw material particle size distribution measuring apparatus and a particle size distribution measuring method. Also provided is a porosity measuring apparatus. The raw material particle size distribution measuring apparatus includes: a coarse particle measuring device that acquires information indicating the particle size distribution of the coarse particles; a fine particle measuring device that acquires information indicating the particle size distribution of the fine particles; and an arithmetic device that computes the particle size distribution of the coarse particles using the information indicating the particle size distribution of the coarse particles, computes the particle size distribution of the fine particles using the information indicating the particle size distribution of the fine particles, and computes an overall particle size distribution of the raw material using the particle size distribution of the coarse particles and the particle size distribution of the fine particles.

Abstract: A fine ratio measuring device that measures a ratio of fines adhering to the surface of a material in the form of lumps, the fine ratio measuring device includes: an illumination unit that illuminates the material in the form of lumps; a spectrometer that performs spectral analysis on light reflected from the material in the form of lumps to measure spectral reflectance; and an arithmetic device that extracts at least one feature quantity from the spectral reflectance measured by the spectrometer and computes the fine ratio from the extracted at least one feature quantity.

Abstract: A particle size distribution measurement apparatus includes a coarse grain measurement device that acquires information indicating distribution of coarse grains, an adherent powder measurement device that acquires information indicating distribution of adherent powder, and a computation device that calculates distribution of a raw material.

Abstract: A fine ratio measuring device that measures the fine ratio of fines adhering to the surface of the material in the form of lumps includes: an illumination unit that illuminates the material in the form of lumps; an imaging unit that captures an image of the material in the form of lumps and produces image data; and an arithmetic unit including a computation unit that computes a characteristic quantity of the image data produced by the imaging unit and a conversion unit that converts the characteristic quantity computed by the computation unit to the fine ratio.

Abstract: A method of detecting an abnormality in a blast furnace, wherein the abnormality causes clogging of a tuyere unit of the blast furnace, the method including capturing an image of a raceway unit through an in-furnace monitor window disposed at the tuyere unit; and determining that the abnormality has occurred when a brightness of the captured image is lower than or equal to a predetermined brightness threshold and a rate of decrease in the brightness is lower than or equal to a predetermined brightness-decrease-rate threshold.

Abstract: An abnormality detection method of detecting abnormality of a blast furnace from tuyere images shot by cameras installed in vicinities of a plurality of tuyeres of the blast furnace includes: collecting, in a time-series manner, representative brightness vectors defined by representative brightnesses determined based on brightness values of respective pixels for each of the tuyeres image previously shot by the cameras at a same time; extracting a principal component vector by performing principal component analysis on the representative brightness vectors collected in the time-series manner; calculating, as an evaluation value, a length of a normal line drawn in a direction of the principal component vector from the representative brightness vector collected from the tuyere images shot by the cameras at the same time during an operation; and detecting the abnormality of the blast furnace by comparing the evaluation value with a predetermined threshold.

Abstract: An oven wall shape measuring apparatus includes: a slit laser light source that is arranged in a thermally-insulated protection box having a slit-like window and emits slit-like laser light; a laser light mirror that reflects the laser light and irradiates an oven wall surface with the laser light via the window; an imaging mirror that reflects reflected light due to irradiation of the laser light and self-emitting light emitted from the oven wall surface, the reflected light and the self-emitting light entering the thermally-insulated protection box via the window; and an imaging device that images, via an optical filter, the self-emitting light and the reflected light that are reflected from the imaging mirror.

Abstract: A method of detecting an abnormality in a blast furnace, wherein the abnormality causes clogging of a tuyere unit of the blast furnace, the method including capturing an image of a raceway unit through an in-furnace monitor window disposed at the tuyere unit; and determining that the abnormality has occurred when a brightness of the captured image is lower than or equal to a predetermined brightness threshold and a rate of decrease in the brightness is lower than or equal to a predetermined brightness-decrease-rate threshold.

Abstract: An abnormality detection method of detecting abnormality of a blast furnace from tuyere images shot by cameras installed in vicinities of a plurality of tuyeres of the blast furnace includes: collecting, in a time-series manner, representative brightness vectors defined by representative brightnesses determined based on brightness values of respective pixels for each of the tuyeres image previously shot by the cameras at a same time; extracting a principal component vector by performing principal component analysis on the representative brightness vectors collected in the time-series manner; calculating, as an evaluation value, a length of a normal line drawn in a direction of the principal component vector from the representative brightness vector collected from the tuyere images shot by the cameras at the same time during an operation; and detecting the abnormality of the blast furnace by comparing the evaluation value with a predetermined threshold.

Abstract: An oven wall shape measuring apparatus includes: a slit laser light source that is arranged in a thermally-insulated protection box having a slit-like window and emits slit-like laser light; a laser light mirror that reflects the laser light and irradiates an oven wall surface with the laser light via the window; an imaging mirror that reflects reflected light due to irradiation of the laser light and self-emitting light emitted from the oven wall surface, the reflected light and the self-emitting light entering the thermally-insulated protection box via the window; and an imaging device that images, via an optical filter, the self-emitting light and the reflected light that are reflected from the imaging mirror.