Paneratech, Inc.

The Ohio State University

Syntonics, LLC

Yakup Bayram

Eric K Walton

Alexander C Ruege

Wladimiro Villarroel

Bruce G Montgomery

Steven E Gemeny

Gary W Bruce

Douglas E Crowe

Justin Knowles

Peter Hagan

Orbay Tuncay

Eric Walton

Alexander Ruege

Disclosed is a sensing system to evaluate and monitor the status of a material forming part of a refractory furnace, integrating an antenna and a grating structure that might be part of the furnace. The system is operative to identify flaws and measure the erosion profile and thickness of different materials, including refractory materials of an industrial furnace, using radiofrequency signals. The system is designed to integrate the antenna with a grating adjacent to an external furnace wall to improve the overall performance of the sensing system as compared to that of the antenna alone during an inspection of the furnace, even in regions of difficult access. Furthermore, the system comprises a mechanism to physically attach the antenna to the furnace grating or to modify the grating configuration around the antenna to improve the system performance for better estimating the remaining operational life and maintenance plan of the furnace.

Antenna-grating coupled sensing system for clutter reduction during evaluation of a status of a material

Disclosed is a system and method for evaluating a status of a refractory material in metallurgical vessels, including furnaces and ladles, wherein a slag buildup is formed on the surface of such material as a result of scrap accumulation and chemical reactions occurring during the melting of metals in such vessels. The system and method are operative to determine both a rate of degradation of the material under evaluation, including the thickness of such material, and a measure of the slag buildup to predict and extend the operational life and improve the maintenance plan of the vessel. The system is capable of determining the thickness of and the slag buildup on the entire material under evaluation by sampling a number of regions of such material with different types of sensors, characterizing the surface profile of such material, and using appropriate signal processing techniques and artificial intelligence algorithms.

System and method for evaluating a status of a material in metallurgical vessels

Disclosed is an apparatus and method for evaluating a status of a refractory material in metallurgical vessels, including furnaces and ladles, wherein an external structure at least partly surrounding the refractory material impairs the propagation of radiofrequency signals. The apparatus and method are operative to identify flaws and determine the erosion profile and thickness of refractory material and the level or rate of penetration of molten material into the refractory material, using radiofrequency signals. The apparatus comprises an antenna embedded in the refractory material or positioned inside the chamber of the vessel designed to collect data associated with the propagation of radiofrequency signals transmitted by the antenna into the refractory material. Moreover, signal processing techniques allow determining the status of the internal wall of the vessel due to operational wear, age, and presence of flaws, cracks, corrosion, and erosion to improve the operational life and maintenance of the vessel.

Method and apparatus for evaluation of a status of a material in metallurgical vessels

Disclosed is an improved device and method to evaluate the status of a material by scanning an area that overlaps a region of the material under evaluation. The device and method are operative to identify a leakage of a first material into a second material, such as a molten material surrounded by a refractory material, to measure the thickness of the second material, using electromagnetic waves, and to generate images. The device is designed to reduce a plurality of reflections associated with the propagation of electromagnetic waves launched into the material under evaluation, by a sufficient extent so as to enable detection of electromagnetic waves of interest reflected from remote discontinuities present in between the device and the enclosed material. Furthermore, the device can be configured to scan areas of interest in either a portable or fixed configuration, manually in a standalone mode or as part of an automated system.

Device and method for evaluation of a material

Disclosed is a system to evaluate and monitor the status of a material forming part of an asset, such as a refractory furnace. The system is operative to identify flaws and measure the erosion profile and thickness of different materials, including refractory materials of an industrial furnace, using radiofrequency signals. The system is designed to integrate software with a plurality of sensors and additional hardware to collect data during an inspection of the furnace, even in regions of difficult access. Furthermore, the system comprises a software management subsystem configured to implement signal processing techniques to process the data collected and generate reports to visualize the status, estimate the remaining operational life, and determine the level of penetration of molten material into the surrounding layers of the furnace. Moreover, the system's software enables a user to monitor the status of the furnace both locally and remotely.

Asset life optimization and monitoring system

Disclosed is an improved system and method to evaluate the status of a material. The system and method are operative to identify flaws and measure the erosion profile and thickness of different materials, including refractory materials, using electromagnetic waves. The system is designed to reduce a plurality of reflections, associated with the propagation of electromagnetic waves launched into the material under evaluation, by a sufficient extent so as to enable detection of electromagnetic waves of interest reflected from remote discontinuities of the material. Furthermore, the system and method utilize a configuration and signal processing techniques that reduce clutter and enable the isolation of electromagnetic waves of interest. Moreover, the launcher is impedance matched to the material under evaluation, and the feeding mechanism is designed to mitigate multiple reflection effects to further suppress clutter.

Material erosion monitoring system and method

Disclosed is an improved system and method to treat an edge of a material for determining a property of such material through measurements of electromagnetic waves. The system and method are operative to mitigate the adverse effects caused by the interaction between an electromagnetic wave and an edge of a sample of a material under test. The system and method define a configuration to block and significantly attenuate the propagation of electromagnetic waves that may reach an edge of the sample being evaluated. This configuration reduces the undesired effects caused by edge-diffraction that may interfere with the measurement of desired electromagnetic waves for material evaluation. As a result, a property of a material under test can be measured more accurately, especially near the edges of such material. In addition, the system and method enable the evaluation of a small-size sample of a material.

Edge treatment system and method for evaluating a material

Disclosed is an antenna system and method to design a desensitized antenna element. The system and method are operative to design a configuration of an antenna to overcome a number of operational conditions in which the frequency response of the antenna element may be uniquely or significantly detuned or offset or in which undesired noise, signal interference, or electromagnetic coupling effects may affect or be induced by the antenna element. These operational conditions may include the presence of any combination of user body parts, conductive materials, or dielectric materials as well as neighboring electronic systems or other sources of undesired noise, signal interference, and electromagnetic coupling. The system is designed to mitigate adverse effects, when operating in a potentially antenna-detuning environment or under conditions that may affect other systems or be susceptible to being affected by other sources, by using a desensitizer element comprising at least one electrical circuit component.

Desensitized antenna and design method thereof

Disclosed is an antenna feeding system and method to optimize the design of the feeding system to feed an antenna made of a resistive sheet. The system and method are operative to design a topology of the antenna feeding system to adapt to a topology of the resistive sheet antenna to mitigate the adverse effects caused by the inherent losses of resistive sheets while operating as antennas. The system is designed to reduce a convergence of radiofrequency currents that may create a localized high density current concentration, such as 'hot spots' and 'pinch points,' on the resistive sheet, by a sufficient extent so as to prevent power losses that substantially decrease the radiation efficiency of the antenna as compared with feeding systems designed using traditional design techniques.

Adaptive antenna feeding and method for optimizing the design thereof

Disclosed is an antenna system and method to optimize the design of an antenna using resistive sheets. The system and method are operative to design a topology of a resistive sheet to mitigate the adverse effects caused by the inherent losses of resistive sheets while operating as antennas. The system is designed to reduce a plurality of radiofrequency current 'hot spots' and 'pinch points,' associated with the flow of a current on a resistive sheet, by a sufficient extent so as to enable radiation of electromagnetic waves at substantially higher radiation efficiency as compared with antennas designed using traditional design techniques.

Antenna and method for optimizing the design thereof

Disclosed is a system and method to aid in these inspections that avoid the disadvantages of the prior art. The system and method are operative to take thickness measurements of, and thus evaluate the condition of, materials including but not limited to refractory materials, operating in frequency bands that result in less loss than previously known technologies, and utilizing a system configuration and signal processing techniques that isolate the reflected signal of interest from other spurious antenna reflections, particularly by creating (through the configuration of the antenna assembly) a time delay between such spurious reflections and the actual reflected signal of interest, thus enabling better isolation of the signal of interest. Still further, the antenna assembly is intrinsically matched to the material to be probed, such as by impedance matching the antenna to the particular material (through knowledge of the dielectric and magnetic properties of the material to be evaluated) to even further suppress spurious reflections.

Microwave probe for furnace refractory material

A method for determining a physical property of an object or fluid in a dynamic multi-path clutter environment comprises transmitting an RF interrogation signal to a wireless sensor physically coupled to the object or fluid (gas or liquid) in the dynamic multi-path clutter environment, wherein the wireless sensor is operable to receive the RF interrogation signal, produce a reference signal and a measurement signal, and retransmit the reference signal and the measurement signal in the dynamic multi-path clutter environment. The reference signal and measurement signal are delayed by the wireless sensor by an amount of time that may be a function of the unknown physical property. The method also comprises receiving the retransmitted reference signal and the retransmitted measurement signal and comparing them in the time domain in order to determine the unknown physical property of the object or fluid. The method further comprises setting the time delays of the retransmitted reference and retransmitted measurement signals to be long enough for the ringdown time to be over but not so long so that the differential time is distorted by the dynamics of the system.

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Falls Church, VA, United States of America

Yakup Bayram