Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Shaping by direct application of fluent pressure
Patent
1981-12-29
1984-06-26
Goldberg, Howard N.
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Shaping by direct application of fluent pressure
72 62, 266193, B23P 1700, B21D 2210, C21B 710
Patent
active
044557337
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to furnace cooling elements, and also relates to a method of forming cooling elements in general to improve their thermal efficiency.
BAKCGROUND ART
Furnace cooling elements are utilised for cooling the refractory lining and shell of a high temperature furnace to prevent excessive heating and cracking of the external shell of the furnace and so extend the operating campaign life of the furnace.
The cooling elements take the form of cast metal plates or blocks with elongated metal cooling tubes cast therein and through which coolant is passed. More particularly, traditionally cast iron plates and steel tubes are used blast furnaces and electric furnaces and are called staves.
In producing the cooling elements, the metal tubes may be protectively coated to prevent harmful metallurgical bonding. Such protective coatings are conventionally provided by thermosprayed alumina, which is a costly requirement.
It is an object of a first aspect of the invention to provide a furnace cooling element construction in which the necessity for such costly protective coatings is dispensed with, whilst at the same time the thermal efficiency of the element is improved.
Furthermore, during the formation of conventional furnace cooling elements, a small gap is formed, as a result of casting, between the outside of the metal cooling tube and the surrounding material of the cast metal plate or block.
We have also discovered that the size of the gap has a direct and significant effect on the heat exchange between the components due to the insulating effect of the gap.
It is therefore an object of a second aspect of the present invention to overcome this provlem by providing a controlled method of reforming the metal tubes of the cooling elements in which the amount of gap is significantly reduced and the thermal efficiency of the cooling element is consequently improved.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
According to the first aspect of the invention, there is envisaged a method of forming a furnace cooling element, including the steps of positioning an external shroud member around an elongate metal cooling tube over a substantial length thereof, and thereafter casting a metal body around the combination of the inner metal cooling tube and its surrounding shroud member.
According to the second aspect of the invention, there is envisaged a method of forming at least part of a furnace cooling element, including the step of sharply increasing the pressure of a fluid within an inner component thereof to expand said component closer to a surrounding outer component.
Preferably the pressure of the fluid in said inner component is sharply increased by detonating an explosive charge in the fluid in said component, or in communication with the fluid in said component, although other means of sharply increasing fluid pressure, such as the application of percussive forces to elements acting on said fluid to sharply increase the pressure within said fluid, may be utilised.
In one form of this second aspect of the invention, as applied to a basic furnace cooling element, the metal body is metal plate or block which is cast around one or more elongated metal tubes to form a cooling element and thereafter the metal tube is explosively expanded closer to the surrounding material of the metal plate. It has been found that the reduction of the gap between the, or each, tube and metal plate significantly improves the thermal efficiency of the cooling element. The, or each, metal tube may have a protective coating applied thereto.
In another form of this second aspect of the invention, the protective coating on the metal tube is replaced by an external shroud, according to the first aspect of the invention, and the inner metal cooling tube is explosively expanded closer to the surrounding shroud prior to casting to minimise the gap between the outside wall of the metal cooling tube and the inside wall of the protective shroud. Alternatively, or in addition to, the metal cooling tube may again be explosi
REFERENCES:
patent: 3706343 (1972-12-01), Seiga et al.
patent: 3863327 (1975-02-01), Legate
patent: 4028789 (1977-06-01), Loch
patent: 4187709 (1980-02-01), Legate et al.
Hudson Anthony J.
Smith Barry W.
Goldberg Howard N.
Nichols S. E.
The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited
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