Apparatus and method of continuously measuring the wear of a wall of a metallurgical vessel

A method for continuously measuring the wear of a wall of a metallurgical vessel employing a thermocouple having two wires mutually insulated from one another in a sheath, said wires having spaced apart distal ends substantially flush with said sheath and substantially flush with an inner surface of said vessel wall, comprising the steps of

• measuring a resistance of a circuit including the two wires of the thermocouple, and
• measuring an electromotive force generated by a junction formed at the distal ends of said two wires in contact with liquid metal contained in the vessel wherein said resistance measuring and electromotive force measuring steps are alternatively conducted, and
• correcting the measured resistance as a function of the alternately measured value of said resistance and emf.

A method of continuously measuring the wear of a wall of a metallurgical vessel employing a thermocouple having two wires mutually spaced apart from one another in a sheath formed from an electrically conducting material, said wires having spaced apart distal ends substantially flush with said sheath and substantially flush with an inner surface of said vessel wall, comprising the steps of:

• measuring a resistance of a circuit including at least one of the two thermocouple wires, and the electrically conducting sheath, and
• measuring an emf generated by a junction formed at the ends of the two wires in contact with the liquid metal contained in the vessel, wherein said resistance measuring and electromotive force measuring steps are alternatively conducted, and
• correcting the measured resistance as a function of the alternately measured resistance and emf.

A method of fabricating an apparatus for continuously measuring the wear of a wall of a metallurgical vessel, comprising a probe including at least two electrically conducting elements which extend generally mutually parallel, a tubular sheath containing said conducting elements, and an insulator for mutually insulating said elements from one another, wherein said elements have distal ends spaced apart from one another and extending from said insulator of said sheath for contacting liquid metal in a metallurgical vessel when said probe is mounted in a wall of said vessel, comprising the step of:

• lengthening said sheath and electrically conducting elements to reduce the diameter of the probe after said sheath and elements have been assembled into an intermediate assembly having a larger cross-sectional area than a final cross section of the lengthened probe.

An apparatus for continuously measuring the wear of a wall of a metallurgical vessel, comprised of:

• a probe including at least two electrically conducting elements which extend generally mutually parallel, a tubular sheath containing said conducting elements, and an insulator for mutually insulating said elements from one another within said sheath, wherein said elements have distal end means spaced apart from one another and substantially flush with said insulator of said sheath for contacting metal in said metallurgical vessel when said probe is mounted in said wall of said vessel, and
• a measurement system connected to proximal ends of the electrically conducting elements for measuring an electrical characteristic of a circuit formed by said elements, which characteristic is dependent upon the length of said elements,
• wherein the distal end of the probe has a diameter less than 1 mm.