Furnace assembly for a metal-making process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10921060-B2
Application number	US-201716482033-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 10, 2017
Priority date	Feb 10, 2017
Publication date	Feb 16, 2021
Grant date	Feb 16, 2021

Abstract

A furnace assembly for a metal-making process, including: an electric arc furnace configured for flat bath operation and having a bottom, and an electromagnetic stirrer configured to be arranged underneath the bottom of the electric arc furnace to enable stirring of molten metal in the electric arc furnace.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A furnace assembly for a metal-making process, comprising:
an electric arc furnace configured for flat bath operation and having a bottom, and
an electromagnetic stirrer configured to be arranged underneath the bottom of the electric arc furnace to enable stirring of molten metal in the electric arc furnace,
wherein a metal-charging region is located off-center with respect to a center point of the bottom of the electric arc furnace, and
wherein the electromagnetic stirrer includes coils configured to generate a traveling magnetic field in a first direction along a stirring direction axis when fed with a respective AC current, wherein the electromagnetic stirrer is configured to be arranged relative to a central plane extending through the center of the electric arc furnace and through a tapping hole or spout of the electric arc furnace so that the stirring direction axis is at an angle relative to the central plane, wherein the stirring direction axis intersects the central plane.

2. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the angle is 90°.

3. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the angle is greater than 0° and less than 90°.

4. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic stirrer is arranged centered underneath the electric arc furnace.

5. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic stirrer is arranged off-center underneath the electric arc furnace.

6. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , comprising an electromagnetic stirrer position controller configured to control an orientation of the electromagnetic stirrer relative to the electric arc furnace to thereby adjust the angle.

7. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , comprising a frequency converter configured to control the current in the electromagnetic stirrer, and a control system configured to control the frequency converter.

8. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the electric arc furnace is configured to receive charging of metallic material from a side of the electric arc furnace.

9. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the electric arc furnace is configured to receive charging of metallic material from above the electric arc furnace.

10. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the electric arc furnace is configured to receive continuous charging of the metallic material.

11. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the electric arc furnace is configured to receive bucket charging of the metallic material through a shaft.

12. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the bottom of the electric arc furnace comprises a non-magnetic window, beneath which the electromagnetic stirrer is configured to be arranged.

13. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the non-magnetic window comprises a non-magnetic metallic material.

14. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the electromagnetic stirrer position controller is configured to adjust the angle based on an instantaneous amount of global stirring of a melt necessary.

15. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the electromagnetic stirrer position controller is configured to adjust the angle based on a need for vortex reduction above the tapping hole.

16. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a stirring force created by the electromagnetic stirrer is directed towards a cold zone formed by the metal-charging region.

17. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the tapping hole is arranged off-center with respect to the center point of the bottom of the electric arc furnace.

18. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the coils are connected to a respective electric phase of an AC current supply.

19. The furnace assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic stirrer is fed with a poly-phase AC current.

Assignees

• Abb Schweiz Ag
• Tenova Spa

Inventors

• Teng Lidong
• Lehman Anders
• Yang Hongliang
• Grasselli Andrea
• Reali Maria Silvio

Classifications

• F27B3/08 Primary

  heated electrically, with or without any other source of heat · CPC title

• F27D2019/0006

  Monitoring the characteristics (composition, quantities, temperature, pressure) of at least one of the gases of the kiln atmosphere and using it as a controlling value · CPC title

• F27D2003/167

  the fluid being a neutral gas · CPC title

• F27D11/12

  with electromagnetic fields acting directly on the material being heated · CPC title

• F27B3/085 Primary

  Arc furnaces · CPC title