Hybrid model for BOF oxygen blowing time prediction based on oxygen balance mechanism and deep neural network

The amount of oxygen blown into the converter is one of the key parameters for the control of the converter blowing process, which directly affects the tap-to-tap time of converter. In this study, a hybrid model based on oxygen balance mechanism (OBM) and deep neural network (DNN) was established for predicting oxygen blowing time in converter. A three-step method was utilized in the hybrid model. First, the oxygen consumption volume was predicted by the OBM model and DNN model, respectively. Second, a more accurate oxygen consumption volume was obtained by integrating the OBM model and DNN model. Finally, the converter oxygen blowing time was calculated according to the oxygen consumption volume and the oxygen supply intensity of each heat. The proposed hybrid model was verified using the actual data collected from an integrated steel plant in China, and compared with multiple linear regression model, OBM model, and neural network model including extreme learning machine, back propagation neural network, and DNN. The test results indicate that the hybrid model with a network structure of 3 hidden layer layers, 32-16-8 neurons per hidden layer, and 0.1 learning rate has the best prediction accuracy and stronger generalization ability compared with other models. The predicted hit ratio of oxygen consumption volume within the error ±300 m³ is 96.67%; determination coefficient (R²) and root mean square error (RMSE) are 0.6984 and 150.03 m³, respectively. The oxygen blow time prediction hit ratio within the error ±0.6 min is 89.50%; R² and RMSE are 0.9486 and 0.3592 min, respectively. As a result, the proposed model can effectively predict the oxygen consumption volume and oxygen blowing time in the converter.