MELTING PROCEDURE AND FACILITY FOR ITS IMPLEMENTATION Russian patent published in 2010 - IPC C22B9/21 H05B7/09 

FIELD: metallurgy.

SUBSTANCE: facility is equipped with at least one metering hopper for supply of current-conducting self-baking electrode mass. Also an external hollow electrode is made in form of two coaxial pipes with a gap between them for charging current-conducting self-baking electrode mass. The pipes consist of interconnected sections. An internal electrode is insulated from the external one and corresponds to a pipe composed of interconnected sections. The pipe has a cavity for charge of current-conducting self-baking electrode mass. According to the procedure gas is supplied during melting into the gap between the external and internal coaxial electrodes by means of a system of gas supply and withdrawal. There is supplied either gas withdrawn from a melting reservoir, or gas or gas mixture from an external source. The external and/or internal coaxial self-baking electrode of at least one electrode unit is built up during melting by adjoining and securing additional sections to an upper end of the electrode and filling the gap between two coaxial pipes of the external coaxial self-baking electrode and/or the cavity of the internal coaxial self-baking electrode with current-conducting self-baking electrode mass.

EFFECT: raised reliability of facility operation; also utilisation of self-baking electrode mass decreases cost of materials consumed during melting and prime cost of finish product.

2 cl, 1 dwg