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american cast iron pipe co. (cover story).

by:DIgao     2020-06-30
This ball iron tube Caster becomes the first plant in North America to install a continuous arc furnace (Contiarc)
In the coming years, I will use 65 MW of electricity to melt and smelting high quality iron.
Industry First is worth a look.
A foundry installs new unverified technologies in its plant and creates a higher level for the rest of the industry.
In addition to the research, planning and testing required to develop new technologies and install them into operations, being a trend setter requires a key factor ---GUTS.
Especially when the new technology adopts the method of smelting iron that the foundry industry has never had before.
Especially when the new technology is priced at $80 million.
What is the reward for having these courage?
If you\'re an American cast iron pipe company(ACIPCO), a 3000-employee (2400 foundry)
Cast iron pressure pipe, steel pipe, iron fittings and centrifugal cast iron pipe manufacturers in Birmingham, Alabama, the award was named the 2002 foundry of the modern foundry year.
The establishment of BarACIPCO has set a new level of iron melting for others in the global foundry industry.
In July 2001, the foundry installed the first continuous submerged DC arc in the North American Foundry Industry (Contiarc)furnace.
65 MW (MW)
The stove is 10 floors high and is more than 30 feet wide and can melt at a rate of 100 tons/hour or more.
The key to the production of iron liquid in this furnace is that it can continuously and simultaneously tap, load and arc.
It uses a 28-in, electrode.
Therefore, ACIPCO does not need to turn off the power supply during the melting process to dig or charge the furnace.
The Contiarc furnace is replacing 150 of the foundry.
A 100 ton/hour-in-diameter stove is used as the main furnace.
The submerged, continuous nature of the furnace makes it more energy-
Higher efficiency than the flushing furnace.
In addition, ACIPCO is now able to melt and smelting iron in the same furnace system (
Produce 80 tons!
Hr when melting and melting).
The stove can be low-grade scrap (
Car crushing)
, Direct reduction iron (DRI)
And/or hot pressed iron (HBI)
Combine it with coal and silica to produce high-quality No. 3 ball-based iron. 5% carbon (C)and 2. 5% silicon (Si).
According to the forecast of increased demand for cast iron, ACIPCO faced a challenge in 1993.
Key raw materials required for melting in the foundry-
Clean scrap steel and coke-
It is becoming more and more scarce and therefore more and more expensive.
Therefore, the foundry needs to develop other sources of raw materials (
Like DRI or HBI)and more cost-
Efficient energy if cost is to be maintained
Effective operation.
\"With the cost of electricity falling, the price of Coca-Cola has gone up,\" said Ronald kern, assistant director of the melting department.
\"In addition, we melt scrap steel with high residual elements (
ACIPCO operates its own car crushing facilities).
As the metal continues to be recycled, the level of these residual elements in our molten scrap will continue to rise.
\"This type of charging material cannot be effectively melted in a tidying furnace or a Coreless Induction furnace ---
For the steel foundry that wants to upgrade the melting system today, this is the obvious choice.
With this mixed charging material, the melting of modern roads leads to the traditional method of melting steel-electric arc furnace.
ACIPCO is turning to power, Alabama.
Germany Mannesmann DEMAG metallurgical company for help.
ACIPCO provides iron making experience, DEMAG provides electric furnace design, and smelting experience is provided in Alabama.
ACIPCO initially considered installing two large conventional electric furnaces, but there are concerns about carbon and silicon recovery rates in molten iron.
In addition, the total cost of a furnace running two sets of 100 tons/hour iron required for production is higher than that of a day furnace.
A meeting between ACIPCO and Alabama electric power generated a new idea.
Charles Hendricks of Alabama Electric Power said: \"You should melt in a thermal furnace, which can make silicon at the same time.
\"The idea is the winner.
The first test was conducted in 1994.
Elkem Metals has 25mw thermal furnaces.
Christian sang, Norway.
In 1995, ACIPCO transformed its traditional steel melting electric arc furnace into a steel melting electric arc furnace of 1 MW.
1996, the test is 0.
25mw Contiarc furnace in non-Institute
Black process metallurgy of Aachen, Germany.
In 1997, ACIPCO, DEMAG and Alabama Power built a 5mw demonstration furnace capable of melting 7 tons/hour.
Due to the success of the test furnace, the foundry began to install a production furnace of 65 MW on April 2000.
The first hot spot was dug up in July 15, 2001.
\"This is the ultimate team effort to get Condy arc working,\" said John Woods, vice president of engineering . \".
\"We got the right stove design from the supplier and had to convert it into one that we thought would be best suited for melting iron.
\"The Contiarc furnace is a DC electric arc furnace that forms a circular shaft from an external and internal container (Fig. 1).
The furnace runs continuously with raw materials entering the top of the ring shaft.
Local violations in scrap descent are registered by the charging level indicator and compensated by the adjustment of the charging sequence.
According to Woods, the charging system is one of the field of furnace design that ACIPCO redesigned
Designed for production.
Automatic charging of furnace (5000 lb/charge)
The conveyor is delivered to the top of the furnace through the Hopper system, and once the charge reaches the top of the furnace, it is deposited into one of the eight hoppers, which are located in a rotating turntable around the top of the furnace.
The computer cosmetic material system works in conjunction with the computer furnace control system to determine the position required in the ring shaft loading.
By keeping a pile of complete charging materials, the heat of the furnace gas is used as a pre-
Heater for charging material.
Chimney penetration rate is not a problem due to the volume of gas;
However, in order to prevent the bridging in the stack, the charging material must be properly sized.
According to Woods, a major obstacle to the design of the Condy arc for production is upgrading the stove from a 5mw research version to 65 MW. \"It was a one-of-a-
In this way, no one can learn except ourselves and our research furnaces, Woods said.
\"The heart of the stove ---
Water-cooled inner container--
Must be in-
The furnace was built at the scene of ACIPCO.
\"The concept of continuous arc melting is driven by a central cathode (
Graphite electrode)
Inside the vessel and the corresponding conductive bottom anode inside.
In conventional electric arc furnaces, when a charge is added, the electrode rises to the top of the charge.
In a continuous arc furnace, the inner vessel keeps the electrodes submerged.
The center graphite electrode prevents the waste from falling off the internal container from being damaged.
Its tip works at a distance below the bottom of this container so that a long DC arc burns between the electrode and the molten metal bath.
The housing shields the radiation of the DC arc through the charging material.
The fully packaged melter ensures the reduced atmosphere in the lower part of the furnace and the slight oxidation conditions in the shaft to achieve the required process metallurgy and gas utilization.
In addition, this design results in lower loss of iron oxide or silicon.
Greenhouse gas emission system.
According to Woods,of-a-
Also applies to friendly statements that power the furnace.
In general, the DC power supply of the arc furnace requires a large number of filters in the substation to prevent harmonic feedback.
Working with Robicon
A solution is developed that does not require a power filter, reducing the cost of the project.
The advantage of the continuous ArcThe Contiarc furnace is that it is designed for melting and melting operations.
This provides the following advantages for ACIPCO: * Low melting capacity
Cost and rich crushing, drilling, HBI and/or DRI (
Thus keeping the elements of the Tramp under control); * quartz ([SiO. sub. 2])
By means of gravel used in the construction industry, high-cost ferrosilicon can be replaced as a means of developing the necessary silicon levels in the melt.
Kern said: \"The silicon recovery rate on this stove is very close to 100%, which is terrible;
* During the melting process, coal can be used instead of Coke to carbonize base metals and reduce quartz because carbon products are not required for heat generation;
* The sulfur level of the molten metal is reduced without using coke.
\"In general, the chemical and temperature control of the Contiarc furnace is better than that of the day furnace,\" Kern said . \".
\"Contiarc has less slag than the day-washing furnace.
It\'s a reduction furnace.
Many oxides, often used as slag, are reverted back to the metal.
\"During the melting process, the temperature control in the Contiarc furnace is flexible ---
It can be adjusted by a simple change in the current/kWh ratio.
This makes the iron overheat before tapping.
However, according to ACIPCO, everything about the new condicon melting method cannot be described as \"peach and cream \"---
There are indeed shortcomings in this system.
In addition to the high-priced label of the stove, ACIPCO\'s learning curve for the stove itself and the molten iron it is producing is very steep.
Every experience is new because no one has ever melted iron like this.
In operation, the furnace shell is stationary and does not tilt.
According to production requirements, molten iron can be excavated continuously or intermittently.
Knocking furnace (Fig. 2)
, Drill a hole into its bottom by tapping the tooth drill.
Once enough iron is excavated, insert clay ceramics into the hole with a \"mud Gun (
It features a subcutaneous injection needle for hydraulic operation)
Stop the flow of iron.
The Contiarc furnace (
And the stove)taps into 60-
Tons of barrels collecting and transferring molten iron (
Sulfur removal to less than 0. 01%)
1300 or 1000-
Ton heat preservation furnace.
From there, the iron was transferred to five 12. 5-
Ton induction furnace without core.
In order to produce the ductile iron, magnesium is immersed in the iron in the pressurized tank.
On the centrifugal casting molding production line, the crane lift transfers the ball iron parts to the machine lift (
See \"ACIPCO: centrifugal cast pipe\" for more casting production information \").
ACIPCO does need a secondary fusion pick up to handle large scrap that is not suitable for the Condy arc.
As of the printing time, the foundry has not decided whether this will be the existing day furnace or the new one.
At present, the Contiarc and the Chongtian furnace melt together during the transition period to ensure a large enough iron supply.
One thing that the foundry has decided is that the continuous arc melting process has so far been a success in its operation.
Kern said: \"This is just the first appearance of a continuous arc furnace, and we expect it to become an industry leader in the coming years.
\"More information\" the future technology of cast iron production, \"H. A. Edge, Jr. , C. R. Kern, W. Reichelt, G. Grund, R. Fuchs and C.
Minutes of Meeting of the CIATF Technical Forum, Hendricks, June 10-
No. 11, 99, duseldorf, Germany (1999). \"Contiarc--
A new waste melting technologyHofmann and W.
Reichelt, metallurgical process procedure at the beginning of the September 19 s-
23, San Diego, California (1994).
Related article: Selected employer although ACIPCO is recognized as the largest individual cast iron pipe factory in the world, the company is also recognized for its human resources policy.
Fortune magazine rated ACIPCO five times as one of the \"100 Best working companies.
The company is also recognized in the book \"100 best companies in the United States (
Published in 1993).
This recognition benefits from the benefits provided by the company to its more than 3000 employees, including: * On-site medical and dental care;
* The profit is divided into 401 K;
* Apprenticeship training;
* Suggested procedure (
Suggestions for implementation, cash rewards deducted);
* Staff help and health plan.
ACIPCO: There are three factories in the casting tube centrifuge Cico, which are small and medium-sized and large-
Each manufacturer has ball tubes of the size. Poured in 80-60-
20 ductile iron, centrifugal casting of each tube 20-
Ft length in diameter 4-64 in.
During the casting process, feed molten iron from the machine watering bag (
In the process of similar die casting)
One of the horizontal centrifugal casting machines that rotate to force the metal to reach the surface of the carbon steel pipe-shaped molds.
The shell or cold box core is automatically set at one end of the mold to form the mating surface of each pipe.
Unlike any other casting process, the casting yield of the pipe Centrifugal casting is close to 100% of the metal pouring.
During the casting process, the mold is solidified by arc water cooling.
After setting, the pipe is automatically removed from the mold and placed on the lifting system for automatic, insert
Heat treatment of line.
ACIPCO also has a separate green sand and nobake steel foundry for the production of carbon steel molds for pipe fittings and centrifugal cast pipes.
ACIPCO is named \"modern foundry in 2002 \". Hyundai foundry selects its annual foundry based on the recipient of the AFS factory Engineering Committee (1-D)
Award for plant engineering.
The AFS factory Engineering Award is open to all U. S. foundriesS.
Canada and Mexico, judged by 1-1 membersD committee.
The past winners of the American steel association factory Engineering Award include Neenah Foundry Co.
Saginaw forged Cast Iron Company, Saginaw General Motors, Michigan;
Warpaka Casting Co. , Ltd.
Tell the city of Indiana
Charlotte Plumbing & Foundry
Charlotte, North Carolina
The nomination form for the 2003 AFS factory engineering award is available through the modern Foundry website on www. moderncasting. com.
The award will be announced at 2003 AFS foundry conference in Milwaukee.
Modern Foundry will then introduce the foundry as an annual foundry in the July 2003 issue.
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