Optimal design of high temperature vacuum furnace using response surface method

A new method using the response surface method and optimization technique has been developed instead of the original method based on trial and error. In order to construct a response surface, thermal analysis was performed under the condition of using the calculated thermal conductivity of the insulator in a previous study. In order to set up the response surface, the D-Optimal method was used in the process of selecting experimental points. Using a weighting factor, an optimization study was carried out under the condition of satisfying user requirements. Finally, the merits and drawbacks of the new method were described by comparing with the optimal design method based on the thermal analysis database which was developed in a previous study. The optimal results show that the developed method can be used to design an energy efficient, low manufacturing cost, high temperature vacuum furnace with avoiding unnecessary iterative manufacturing, and anticipating the performance before manufacturing. This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by Associate Editor Ohchae Kwon