Lowcost automated control for steel heat treatments

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to propose a low cost, automated furnace control system for the heat treatment of steel. We used an open source electronic prototyping platform to control the furnace temperature, thus reducing human interaction during the heat process. The platform can be adapted to non-controlled commercial furnaces, which are often used by small businesses. A Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller was implemented to regulate the furnace temperature based on a defined heat treatment cycle. The embedded system activates the furnace resistors through Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), allowing for control of electrical power supplied to the furnace. Hardening and tempering were performed on standard steel samples using a traditional method (visual inspection without temperature control) as well the embedded system with PID feedback control. The results show that the proposed system can reproduce an arbitrary heat treatment curve with accuracy and provide the desired final hardness as inferred through metallographic analysis. In addition, we observed a 6% saving in energy consumption using the proposed control system. Furthermore, the estimated cost to implement the system is 42% lower than a commercial controller model implemented in commercial furnaces.