Fluid-cooled metallurgical tuyere
AssigneeCorcliff Corporation
InventorEdward L. Bedell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A novel tuyere assembly for a metallurgical furnace is disclosed having a tuyere pipe formed of extremely high thermal conductivity and heat diffusivity materials, wherein a heat sink and a water cooled chamber, positioned exteriorly of the metallurgical furnace, extract heat from the tuyere tip through efficient heat conductivity along the tuyere pipe, so as to overcome problems of knurdle size control and tuyere pipe burn-back.
Claims20
A fluid cooled tuyere for use in metallurgical furnaces which comprises:
- a housing positionable exteriorly of a refractory wall of a metallurgical furnace;
- said housing having a cooling chamber formed therewithin and a solid heat-sink wall extending from adjacent said chamber so as to project inwardly within wall portions of a metallurgical furnace;
- means for supplying and circulating cooling fluid through said cooling chamber;
- said heat-sink wall forming an inner wall of said housing, and an opposite wall, enclosing a portion of said cooling chamber, forming an outer wall of said housing;
- tuyere tube means extending through said cooling chamber and outwardly of both said inner and outer walls of said housing;
- and said housing and said tuyere tube means being formed of a material having a thermal conductivity of at least about 2500 BTU/Ft.sup.2 /in. hr. .degree.F. and a heat diffusivity greater than about 500 in..sup.2 /hr.
A fluid-cooled tuyere assembly for use with a metallurgical furnace which comprises:
- said tuyere assembly including a housing having a tuyere pipe extending therethrough,
- said housing having a fluid-cooled chamber therewithin and being positionable with respect to an outside wall of a metallurgical furnace so that such fluid cooling is exterior of a refractory wall of such furnace,
- said housing having an inner heat-sink wall communicating with one side of said fluid-cooled chamber and an outer wall communicating with an opposite side of said chamber,
- said tuyere pipe extending through both said inner and outer walls of said housing and said fluid-cooled chamber so as to be directly cooled by both said heat-sink wall and said fluid cooled chamber,
- means for supplying and circulating fluid cooling through said cooling chamber,
- and said tuyere pipe being formed of materials wherein the thermal conductivity thereof is at least about 2500 BTU/Ft.sup.2 in. hr. .degree.F. and the heat diffusivity thereof is greater than about 500 in..sup.2 /hr.
A method of controlling tuyere pipe burn-back and adjacent refractory deterioration in a metallurgical furnace which comprises:
- inserting a tuyere pipe through a tuyere port formed in a refractory block positioned adjacent a wall of a metallurgical furnace so that an outer end of said tuyere pipe extends outwardly of the furnace wall, and an inner end of said tuyere pipe extends inwardly of the refractory block within a molten bath portion of the furnace,
- providing a heat-sink about a portion of said tuyere pipe extending exteriorly of said refractory block,
- applying liquid cooling solely exteriorly of said refractory block to both said heat sink and a portion of said tuyere pipe,
- forming said tuyere pipe from a material having a thermal conductivity of at least 2500 BTU/Ft.sup.2 /in. hr. .degree.F. and a heat diffusivity at least about 500 in..sup.2 /hr. so as to efficiently transfer heat from the inner end of said tuyere pipe to said heat sink and cooling liquid,
- and controlling the rate of liquid cooling applied so as to control the amount of heat extraction from the inner end of said tuyere pipe so as to match the process temperature variability of the molten bath adjacent said inner end and thereby control tuyere pipe burn-back and adjacent refractory deterioriation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.