The adaptation of blast furnaces to the new technologies has increased the operation information so that the sensor information can be known at every moment. However this often results in the supply of excessive data volume to the plant operators. This paper describes an industrial application for self-organized maps (SOM) in order to help them make decisions regarding blast furnace control by means of pattern recognition and the matching of temperature profiles supplied by the thermocouples placed on the above burden. The classification of patterns via easy color coding indicates to the operator what the blast furnace operational situation is, thus making the necessary corrections easier. © 2010 ISIJ.

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