Design and optimization of structural parameters for imaging equipment protection system in metallurgical furnace environments

The high-temperature, high-pressure, and heavy-dust environment of metallurgical furnaces severely impacts the stability and imaging quality of imaging equipment. To address this, this paper designs a protection system and proposes corresponding structural parameter optimization methods for the core challenges of high-temperature and dust protection. First, a steady-state heat transfer model of the furnace wall is constructed to determine the external thermal load. Based on this, a cooling structure parameter adjustment strategy based on steady-state heat exchange was proposed, and a correlation model between cooling structure parameters and cooling medium properties was established to ensure a stable operating temperature for the imaging equipment. Second, to address the issue of dust accumulation and lens blockage, a conical dust-proof structure utilizing an air curtain for dust removal was designed. An optimization objective function incorporating hybrid constraint handling techniques and its constraints were defined, covering the dust-proof performance, cooling performance, field-of-view limitations, and safety penalties of the protection system. Finally, simulations and real-world production environment tests verify the effectiveness of the optimized protection system. The results show that the internal temperature of the protection system is stable and lower than that in the no-cooling state. The average temperature during the test period is 37.6 ℃. At the same time, it effectively avoids lens clogging. The difference between the image Laplace energy and autocorrelation during production and during blow-off period is less than 5%. The designed system has been stably operating on site for 7 months, effectively extending the service life of the instrument and ensuring high-quality imaging.