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Arc Furnaces

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Fundamentals of Electroheat

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Abstract

This chapter deals with Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs) installations used for melting processes based on the heat produced by one or more arcs burning between the ends of one or more electrodes and the charge. The first part of the chapter deals with AC direct arc furnaces for production of steel, considering in particular the power supply, the furnace transformer, the secondary high-current circuit, the electrodes and the furnace vessel. Then the equivalent circuits and the operating characteristics of the installation are presented, making reference either to the approximation with sinusoidal quantities or the non-linear characteristic of the arc. The analysis of these characteristics allows the selection of the optimum operating point. Finally, the evolution of the steel production cycle and the main innovations introduced in modern furnaces in the last 40 years, like foaming slag practice, scrap preheating, CO post-combustion, intensive usage of oxygen and carbon, bottom stirring are dealt with. At the end of the first part the voltage fluctuations produced by EAFs on the supply network (the “Flicker” phenomenon) and the development of DC EAFs are shortly discussed. The second part of the chapter is devoted to Submerged Arc Furnaces used for production of calcium carbide, ferroalloys, other non-ferrous alloys and phosphorus by chemical processes of reduction of one or more oxides of the ore by a reducing agent loaded with the ore. The design and energetic characteristics and the special type of self-baking electrodes used in these furnaces are described.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Some authors make reference to 340 kWh/ton, taking into account the heat accumulated in the lining and partially re-transferred to the charge.

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  1. University of Padua, Padova, Italy

    Sergio Lupi

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  1. Sergio Lupi
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Lupi, S. (2017). Arc Furnaces. In: Fundamentals of Electroheat. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46015-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46015-4_3

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