Optimization of reheating furnace rolling delay strategies based on a minimum energy consumption principle

To provide an energy-efficient and slab-demand-compliant rolling delay strategy, the simulation software is utilized to calculate the rolling delay process of the reheating furnace. Based on energy consumption evaluation, two optimization methods were employed. The bisection approach uses the needs of the slab to estimate the rolling delay temperature, and the golden section search method uses the energy consumption analysis of the slab to determine the high-temperature insulation duration. Generally, the slab closest to the discharge position in the control zone is selected as the optimization target. The optimized slab does not show a significant temperature rise after the end of the rolling delay process. When comparing the optimized rolling delay strategies with the traditional ones, the optimized rolling delay strategies not only meet the output requirements for slabs but also offer significant advantages in terms of energy efficiency, and this advantage increases with rolling delay time.