Purpose. To reduce specific energy consumption, duration of campaigns and downtime between campaigns of Kastner furnaces in the technology of graphitizing electrode products.
Specifications. Experimental testing of the developed technical solutions for industrial testing of regulations for the graphitization of electrode blanks in Kastner furnaces using electrical contact gaskets (ECG) showed their high energy efficiency: – the developed regulations make it possible to reduce the specific energy consumption of the graphitization process by (0) with regulations without the use of ECP; – the duration of the schedule for graphitizing electrode blanks in the Kastner furnace decreased by more than 6 hours compared to the schedule without the use of ECP; – the duration of downtime between furnace campaigns has decreased by (8-12) hours; – the yield of defective products decreased by (5–7)% compared to regulations without the use of ECP; – the deviation between the predicted electrical parameters of the developed regulations from the data obtained from their experimental verification lies within the range of (3–16)%.
Application area. Electrode and metallurgical industry.
Advantages. Compared with the existing technology for graphitizing electrode products in Kastner furnaces, the modernized technology has the following advantages: – specific energy consumption is reduced by (190–390) kW*h/t; – the duration of the process is reduced by more than 6 hours; – the yield of defective products is reduced by (5–7)%; – the duration of downtime between furnace campaigns is reduced by (8-12) hours; – the energy efficiency of furnaces increases due to partial heat recovery from the previous campaign.
Technical and economic effect. Factors for creating an economic effect from the introduction of technology are: 1) reduction of specific energy consumption (SEC); 2) reducing the duration of the campaign of Kastner furnaces and downtime between them (i.e. increasing the productivity of the furnaces); 3) reducing the yield of defective products. The economic effect of introducing developments into industry only due to the reduction of PVE is 0.113 thousand UAH. per ton of product.
Description. Production of electrical contact gaskets from thermally expanded graphite of a certain density, shape and thickness for a given diameter of electrode blanks using specially designed molds. Formation of columns of electrode blanks outside the Kastner furnace with fixation of the ECP between the ends of the blanks using dextrin or aluminosilicate glue with the addition of graphite powder. Moving the formed part of the column of electrode blanks into the working space of the Kastner furnace using a special device (mechanized traverse for transporting blank columns). After the formation of the core is completed, the Kastner furnace is connected to the DC power supply network and the graphitization process begins according to a specially developed intensified schedule for the supply of electrical power, which depends on the brand of the product being graphitized. After this process is completed, the furnace is cooled and then unloaded using the specified mechanized cross beam.