ENERGY FLOW CONTROL IN ELECTRIC ARC FURNACES, SUBMERGED ARC FURNACES AND ELECTROSLAG REMELTING FURNACES USING RECTIFICATION

AND FREQUENCY CONTROL OF OPERATING CURRENT - AS ENERGY- AND RESOURCE-SAVING DIRECTION OF ELECTROMETALLURGY REALIZED BY RUSSIAN COMPANY COMTERM S.Nekhamin(1)
(1)

Company COMTERM 18, build. 1, Sokolinoy Gory 5-ja Str., Moscow, 105275, Russia, comterm@comterm.ru

Indicators of technological processes in electric furnaces are determined by the nature of the energy distribution in their workspace. Both in the processes of design and operation of electric arc furnaces, submerged arc furnaces (SAF)and electroslag remelting furnaces (ESR furnaces) it is necessary to provide for each process the optimal distribution of energy, as well as to provide an effective mechanism of energy redistribution in the changing external and internal (concerning the electric furnace) conditions during melting. It is important to notice that it is not the issue of entering required power into the unit. It is also necessary to ensure the effective assimilation of the required power with maximum benefit to the technological process. The use of the latest developments in the field of converter equipment for intended effect on the power distribution in the internal volume of the furnace allows to improve the effectiveness of existing and create new (not implemented previously) technological processes due to the newly discovered mechanisms for energy flow control in the inner space of the furnaces. The use of semi-conductor power supply units has its own characteristics for each type of electric furnace. In DC steel melting electric arc furnaces (DC EAF), working with the open burning arc, the positive effects are based on the following fundamental factors: difference between DC arc and AC arc; the flow of direct current through the entire depth of the liquid metal bath, in contrast to the local surface-circuit alternating current between the electrodes; quick stabilization of the current by semi-conductor power supply unit. Lets pay attention to two essentially new aspects of DC EAF usage. The first aspect relates to implementation of new technological processes not previously implemented in AC electric arc furnaces (AC EAF). Examples include the melting of aluminum, ferrovanadium, ferrochrome and ferromanganese screenings in DC EAF capacity from 0.3 to 12 tons. Low waste of leading elements (at 1%) and high capacity provide high economic efficiency of the mentioned remelting processes. And operational convenience of DC EAF allows to integrate them easily into a variety of product lines. The second aspect to pay attention to is launching into market of DC EAF with rectifiers, based on IGBT-transistors. More than two years of operation, such a furnace with a capacity of 2 tons (DC EAF DP-2) at "VKM-Steel" Plant (Saransk, Russia) have shown high reliability and efficiency of this solution. Retaining all the known advantages of DC EAFs (low waste of electrodes and the charge, the magnetohydrodynamic mixing of the liquid-metal bath, ecofriendly process), this solution makes it possible to fully automate the process of control of value and distribution of power in the working space of the furnace. This eliminates the need for steel-maker intervention into electric control mode, and allows to supply DC EAFs (up to 6 tons) at the price of AC electric arc furnaces. In contrast to the above mentioned remelting processes, arc in submerged arc furnaces (SAF) burns in a closed space under a layer of charge, and the energy is partially released in the form of Joule heat in the active resistance of the charge, shunting the arc. As a

characteristic feature of SAF, raw material conduction currents to some extent hinder the melting process and lower the technical and economic indicators. The application of direct current flowing from the electrodes to the conductive hearth provides the required redistribution of power due to exclusion of currents, which in three-phase furnaces closed on the charge between the electrodes. Concentration of power control in the area of working ends of the electrodes is used by switching the polarity of the electrodes. Ten-year operating experience of a two-electrode furnace with capacity of 6.4 MW at "ZALK" Plant (Zaporozhye, Ukraine) for producing of technical silicon has shown the effectiveness of this method of regulation of energy (entered into a bath of SAF) which provides savings of charge materials and the electrodes and improving the quality of electricity consumed. The economic feasibility of direct current usage increases with increasing the unit capacity of SAF. In multi-slag SAF there is no electric arc and the energy is released in a bath of molten slag in the form of Joule heat. Here, the useful effect of direct current is achieved by more uniform distribution of power than in threephase AC arc furnaces, as well as operating magnetohydrodynamic mixing of the liquid metal bath. In addition, the electrochemical effects which manifests itself at the interface between the electrodes and the liquid slag help to remove harmful contaminants and more vigorous mixing of the slag bath. The usage of low frequency (1-10 Hz) provides the special interest in electroslag remelting furnaces (ESR furnaces), intended for refining remelting of consumable electrodes into ingots with a uniform structure of the metal. Frequency regulation ensures redistribution of power between the consumable electrode and the slag bath, effectively influences the shape of the crystallization front of the formed ingot, and ultimately improves the quality of melted billets and creates the possibility of melting larger ingots. The imposition of a constant component to the low rate current further increases the flexibility of operating the energy flow, which is convenient to use in start mode and transient mode of remelting. When the quality of the ingot is specified the rate of melting increases and specific power consumption is reduced. The experience of the creation of electroslag remelting furnace, designed for smelt ingots weighing up to 120 tons, built at "ORMETO-YUMZ" Plant (Orsk, Russia), confirmed the feasibility and effectiveness of control power distribution in ESR furnace bath when smelting in solid and hollow ingots for power engineering. All the above mentioned electro-metallurgical furnaces have in common the inaccessible to external influence reaction zone which is directed from an external source under intended effect by the energy flow itself. Moreover, the control mechanism of energy flow is enclosed in the flow itself without entering into the working space of the furnace of foreign elements. Electric furnace power supplier receives from the control computer the information about the required impact on the technological process, converts it into the frequency and form of the furnace operating current, and directs modulated energy flow into the working space of the furnace. In the reaction zone of the furnace the informational component of the energy flow ensures the given redistribution of power, which allows without no visible interference to increase the effectiveness of the output and reduce electric power consumption.