Apparatus for Smelting Meltable Substances, Particularly Ore Concentrates

The invention relates to an apparatus for smelting meltable substances, particularly ore concentrates, and more particularly to a furnace having a melting cyclone that is arranged above the furnace.

German Patent 29 22 189 discloses an apparatus for smelting meltable substances such as ore concentrate that is composed of a furnace housing and of a melting cyclone whose discharge enters directly into the furnace from above. The melting cyclone, which is conically tapered in a downward direction, thereby forms a structural unit with the furnace. The ore concentrate is melted in fractions of seconds in the melting cyclone at high temperatures and proceeds from above into the furnace, where the melt is subjected to an after-treatment.

An object of the invention is to create an apparatus that significantly simplifies and facilitates the fitting, particulary re-fitting of a pyro-metallurgical furnace with a melting cyclone.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved metallurgical furnace structure including a melting cyclone and a furnace wherein the structures are uniquely related to support and cooperate with each other for improved furnace operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved metallurgical furnace structure with a melting cyclone wherein the units are constructed so as to facilitate separation and assembly without damage to the aligned furnace.

The objects are achieved in that a transfer element that connects the cyclone discharge to the furnace is installed between the melting cyclone and the furnace.

As a result of the installation of a transfer element between the melting cyclone and the furnace, the melting cyclone can be very advantageously placed or mounted on existing open-hearth furnaces in a relatively simple way and without any significant interruption of operations. The particular advantage of the invention is that the required opening in the roof of the open-hearth furnace is small in relationship to the cyclone diameter.

According to a further, advantageous development of the invention, the transfer element is executed water-cooled, preferably as a double jacket or pipe structure. This water-cooled transfer element of the invention can be easily withdrawn from the opening of the furnace roof at any time as needed or it can be introduced into the opening from above without the furnace lining being damaged or destroyed.

A further advantageous development of the invention lies in the cylindrical shaping of the melting cyclone. Compared to the previously known, conical fashioning of the melting cyclone, a significantly better utilization of the space and thermal energy for the melting process in the cyclone is achieved by this cylndrical shaping of the melting cyclone.

In order to achieve a relaxation and abatement of the downwardly emerging gas stream from the melting cyclone, the cyclone discharge is advantageously widened funnel-like in a downward direction and centrally from the floor of the melting cyclone.

Other objects, features and advantages will become more apparent with the teaching of the principles of the invention in connection with the disclosure of the preferred embodiment thereof in the specification, claims and drawings, in which:

The single drawing labelled FIG. 1 is a somewhat schematic showing of a vertical section taken through a metallurgical furnace constructed and operating in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows an apparatus for smelting meltable substances, particularly ore concentrates, comprising a furnace 1, a bipartitely constructed melting cyclone 2 that is arranged at a distance above a roof 3 of the furnace 1, this roof 3 being constructed of refractory stone. A conduit shown schematically at 4 through which the ore concentrate is introduced into the melting cyclone 2 together with the additives discharges laterally into the melting cyclone 2. Conduits 5 through which fuel, and particularly technically pure oxygen, is insufflated tangentially into the melting cyclone 2 during operation of the melting cyclone 2 are also laterally connected to the melting cyclone.

The cooling of the jacket of the melting cyclone ensues via a coolant delivery conduit 6 laterally arranged at the melting cyclone 2 at the bottom and via a coolant outlet conduit 7 secured to the melting cyclone 2 at the top.

In accordance with the invention, a transfer element 9 is arranged between the cyclone discharge 8 and the furnace 1, this transfer element essentially comprising a pipe conduit provided with a cooling jacket or with cooling pipes that is conducted through the opening 10 in the roof 3 of the furnace 1. A sealing compound 11 constructed of refractory material is inserted between the transfer element 9 and the roof 3 of the furnace 1. The sealing compound 11 not only effects a gas-tight closure between the transfer element 9 and the furnace lining but prevents the lining of the roof 3 of the furnace 1 from being damaged or destroyed when the transfer element 9 is introduced into the opening 10 in the furnace roof 3 or when this tranfer element 9 is removed from the roof 3. For mounting or dismantling the transfer element 9, it is outwardly provided with hook-shaped projections 12. The melting cyclone 2 which, for the purpose of a better use of space and thermal energy, is cylindrically shaped and rests on carriers 13 and 14, and the lower cyclone part is an integrated component part of the transfer element. The funnel-shaped widening of the cyclone discharge 8 in a downward direction serves for an abatement of the gas stream that proceeds into the furnace through the transfer element 9 together with the melt (arrow 15). The gas stream is laterally eliminated from the furnace in arrow direction 16 immediately after entering into the furnace 1.

This arrangement wherein the transfer of materials from the cyclone to the furnace is accomplished, provides for a discharge venturi 8 which has an opening of restricted or limited size at the base of the cyclone but which widens in a divergent circular passage in a downward direction thereby reducing the speed of flow of the materials. The materials then flow through the water cooled conduit 9 and are dispersed as indicated by the arrowed lines 15 and 16 as they enter the furnace thereby accomplishing a unique intermixing or diffusion into the furnace chamber below thhe furnace roof.

The transfer element 9 is arranged between the melting cyclone 2 and the furnace 1 and the upper part of the melting cyclone can be lifted off outwardly in an easy manner at any time, whether for purposes of repair or whether for purposes of replacement, and the opening of the transfer element can be closed with a cover without interruption of the furnace operations. The transfer element 9 can always remain in the roof 3 of the furnace 1 during mounting or dismantling of the upper part of the melting cyclone and need not be removed. The furnace roof 3 is protected in this region against overloads or damage to its lining.

The apparatus of the invention also enables the fitting or re-fitting of existing open-hearth furnaces with a melting cyclone in order to achieve a significant increase in the furnace throughput performance. The attachment of a transfer element in the roof of the open-hearth furnace to be refitted and the placement of the upper part of the melting cyclone onto the transfer element can thereby also be undertaken in an easy manner during furnace operations.