# US 4,398,703 A · Tuyeres with heat pipes and method of manufacturing

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- Number: US 4,398,703 A
- Document ID: US4398703A
- Status: Granted
- Kind: A
- Application number: 06/254,531
- Filed: 1981-04-15
- Granted: 1983-08-16
- Earliest claimed: 1980-04-24
- Assignees: Carblox Limited
- Inventors: Raymond N. Elderfield
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US4398703A

## CPC

- C21B 7/16: Tuyéres
- Y10T 29/49353: Heat pipe device making
- C21B: MANUFACTURE OF IRON OR STEEL (preliminary treatment of ferrous ores or scrap C22B1/00)
- Y10T: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION

## Abstract

The tuyere for a blast furnace, the tuyere having a body part (10) with cooling means extending rearwardly from a nose portion of the body (10). In order that a failure of the tuyere when in service does not result in large quantities of water entering the furnace, the cooling means are constituted by a plurality of heat pipes, the heat pipes being formed either in tubes (12) cast in the body part (10) or being formed in holes (112) drilled in said body part.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of manufacturing a tuyere for use in a blast furnace, the method comprising the step of casting in a mold a tuyere body with one or more cast-in tubes so that said tube(s) extend generally longitudinally of said tuyere body between its wall thickness, and thus extend rearwardly from near a nose portion of said body, and the subsequent step of forming in situ a low pressure, boiling/condensing heat pipe of each of said tube(s) by installing a wick material, evacuating the tube(s), introducing a working fluid, and sealing the tube(s).

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A method according to claim 1 of manufacturing a tuyere for use in a blast furnace, including the initial step of plugging the tube end(s) which are to be located at the nose end of the tuyere body, before the tube(s) are located in a mould in which the tuyere body is to be cast.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

A method according to claim 1 of manufacturing a tuyere for use in a blast furnace, the method including the coring of an annular cooling water cavity in the tuyere body in a rearward part of said body remote from the nose portion thereof, said cooling water cavity being located between the wall thickness of said body so that in the finished tuyere the condenser sections of the heat pipes extend into said cavity and can be cooled by cooling water circulated through said cavity through flow and return passages extending through a back face of the tuyere and into said cavity, the flow and return passages being at diametrically opposite locations at the back face of the tuyere.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

A method according to claim 1 of manufacturing a tuyere for use in a blast furnace, in which tube(s) which are to be cast in the tuyere body are at least initially of a length much greater than the length of the tuyere body.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

A tuyere made by the method claimed in claim 1 for use in a blast furnace, the tuyere having a body with one or more cast-in tubes extending generally longitudinally of the tuyere body between its wall thickness, and thus extending rearwardly from near a nose portion of said body, each of said tube(s) being formed as a low pressure, boiling/condensing heat pipe containing a wick material and a working fluid, and being sealed.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

A tuyere according to claim 5, including an annular cooling water cavity in the tuyere body in a rearward part of said body remote from the nose portion thereof, said cooling water cavity being located between the wall thickness of said body so that the condenser section(s) of the heat pipe(s) extend into said cavity and can be cooled by cooling water circulated through said cavity through flow and return passages extending through a back face of the tuyere and into said cavity, the flow and return passages being at diametrically opposite locations at the back face of the tuyere.