SBIR Phase I: Structural Imaging of High Temperature Furnace Walls

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses a major need in the glassmanufacturing industry by developing a wireless sensor for 3?]D imaging of glass furnace walls to identifyrefractory erosion and molten glass leaks. The furnace walls are comprised of insulation and AZS(Alumina, Zirconium, Silica) refractories which are highly lossy and very dispersive at high temperatures.A conventional approach would inevitably be constrained by its system dynamic range, and thus themost important molten glass?]AZS echo would be virtually invisible regardless of the sophistication ofdigital processing on the measured results. This project takes a holistic approach from antenna design toimaging algorithm to sensor architecture in order to tackle very demanding requirements of the furnacewall. It aims to accomplish (1) accurate characterization of attenuation and dispersive properties of thefurnace walls (2) optimal antenna design to match with minimum inter?]coupling, (3) high resolutionimaging algorithm that leverages prior knowledge of wall properties, and (4) hardware architecture withthe highest possible dynamic range in such a high temperature environment.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that it offers a 3?]D sensor that will enable amaintenance program based upon the real condition of the furnace to realize longer life span of hightemperature furnaces and make informed local maintenance without a major interruption in theproduction. This translates to significant financial savings for the glass manufacturing industry given themulti?]million dollar initial capital investment is required to build a furnace, followed by a multi?]milliondollar spending to maintain it. Further, several catastrophic accidents have occurred in the past due tomolten glass leaking from the furnaces. These catastrophic accidents resulted in death of severalemployees, significant financial damage and severe production disruption. Therefore, this project willenable safer manufacturing environment for the glass manufacturing industry since potential areas formolten glass leakages and structural health of furnace walls will be assessed with the 3?]D imagingtechnology being developed under this project. Lastly, this research will also lead to new designconcepts for sensing through dispersive and high loss media in extremely high temperatureenvironment, thus introducing new approaches for wireless sensing technologies in harsh environments.