Senior Design Project Presentation Videos

Vision System for Steel Mill Reheat Furnace
Department School of Technology
Advisors: Joel Kimbal and Dr. Brian Davis
Sponsor: ArcelorMittal
Team Members: Aaron Oaks, Jake Hildebrandt, and Wes Sutton, Electrical Engineering Technology

Project Overview: Our team leader’s experience in working in a steel mill has led to the identification of problems with the reheat furnace of that and other steel mills throughout the country. Currently, these furnaces use a rudimentary photoelectric eye-based system to track the position of steel bars within the furnace. This tracking system is inherently prone to failure and provides very little usable information even when working properly. The system we are designing and prototyping solves the reliability issues and makes the reheating process much more efficient by using an intelligent, camera-based solution. Instead of photoelectric eyes which only indicate whether a bar has entered the furnace or not, our system takes visual data and provides the operator with the precise location and length of the bars. The system also controls the conveyor rollers independently, allowing the empty portions to remain unpowered to conserve energy