Non-water cooled consumable electrode vacuum arc furnace for continuous process

An electric arc furnace, comprising:

• a closed vessel, the vessel having a top furnace spool and a bottom furnace crucible;
• a top electrode;
• a bottom electrode, the top electrode being adapted to carry electric current so as to maintain a plasma arc between the top electrode and the bottom electrode;
• at least one feeding port operable to be displaced between an open position for charging of materials in the vessel and a closed sealed position;
• at least one exhaust port operative to exhaust furnace gas from the vessel and to be sealed from an exhaust line;
• at least one tap hole operative to be displaced between an open position for removing molten material from the bottom furnace crucible and a closed sealed position;
• a top electrode assembly external to the vessel, the top electrode assembly being operative to seal the top electrode from an outside environment;
• and
• a bottom electrode assembly having:
• the bottom electrode, the bottom electrode having an electrically conductive extension lead or rod;
• and
• a cooling device adapted to having a cooling medium comprising air to be blown thereon, the cooling device having finned tubes stacked in a housing for transferring heat from the bottom electrode assembly to the cooling medium, the finned tubes being positioned between an upper conductive plate and a lower conductive plate, the upper conductive plate and the lower conductive plate being interconnected by hanger rods, the hanger rods being electrically insulated from the lower conductive plate by grommets for maintaining the housing electrically insulated from the bottom anode assembly.