Introduction

“ElectroDAR” (an amalgam of electrode and radar) began as a simple summer research project. As an intern at Hatch, a large Canadian engineering company, I was charged with researching potential solutions to an eternal challenge in the metallurgical industry: measuring the length of an electrode in an electric arc furnace. It was the type of research project that one gives to an intern, not expecting to receive anything of value, but as a useful exercise to evaluate the intern’s candidacy for a full-time role.

Background

For context, since the early 1900s, when electric smelters were first established, the metallurgical industry had not been able to create an accurate and reliable technology to measure the length of the electrodes, the most critical component of the smelter. Inside a smelter, the conditions at the end of the 15-meter-long electrodes are even more extreme than those within a volcano. With over 50,000 amps flowing through the electrodes (a typical household appliance uses about 10 amps), the electrodes reach over 3,000 degrees Celsius and a plasma arc is formed between the ends of the electrodes and the molten metal. Under such extreme conditions, the smelter is closed off completely and walled by over a meter of refractory brick.

The position of the electrode tips in an electric smelter is critical to its operation: a few centimeters in either direction can impact the chemistry of the metal, structural integrity of the electrode and the power efficiency of the smelter. Since one end of an electrode is safely outside of an electric smelter, one can determine the position of the electrode tip if the electrode length can be measured. Hence, a technology to measure electrode length was hailed as the “Holy Grail” in the industry.

Invention of ElectroDAR

My process to find potential solutions began with elimination. Since the smelter was closed off, it was not possible to use optical technologies. In addition, the thermal gradients made it impossible to use acoustic technology. I determined, however, that radar and microwave frequency technologies would be minimally affected by the extreme temperatures or the relatively lower frequency electromagnetic noise from the electrodes.  As such, I felt confident that a radar-based technology would be the most suitable option. And yet, there was still the challenge of projecting the radar waves into the electric smelter. To solve that problem, I researched ‘waveguides’ and found that they could, as the name suggests, guide the radar waves down the length of the electrode. At the bottom of the waveguide within the electrode (at or close to the electrode tip), the radar waves would be reflected back in the waveguide to the source.

Engineering

The next step in the design process was to consider practical engineering implications. The idea of introducing a waveguide in the electrode seemed to be prohibitively unsafe, as electric furnaces need to be sealed off from the outside world. To solve that problem, my team and I discovered that you could plug the waveguide with a ceramic material and it would still transmit radar waves. Before the end of my internship, I conducted research proving that this concept did not significantly impact the measurement accuracy in laboratory environments at room temperature.

To my surprise, before I returned as a full-time employee (following graduation from Queen's), Hatch filed a patent application for ElectroDAR. I was delighted when Hatch appointed me as the primary product manager, to conduct further research and ultimately bring the product to market. Over my four years at Hatch, I oversaw the entire product lifecycle of ElectroDAR, including product ideation, design and engineering, prototyping, strategic planning and customer engagement. I wrote research papers about the new technology, and I presented at industry conferences. Later, I orchestrated and conducted the initial beta testing of the ElectroDAR prototype at an international smelter. It was so fulfilling to finally see the technology I co-invented being used in the field.

Finally, in 2020, while I was studying at Harvard, the patent for ElectroDAR was granted in the US (US20180067201A1) and Europe (EP3295209A1).