Electrical Applications

Arc Furnace
Roberto Faranda
Dipartimento di Energia,
Via La Masa, 34 (Bovisa)
+39.02.2399.3793
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Introduction

For the importance of the application in the steel industry, the

high value of installed unit power and the high energy
consumption, arc furnaces can be considered the most important
electro-heating installations from the technical and economical
point of view. Arc furnaces for steel melting have undergone
many technological
developments and
refinements over the
years, but their basic
structure remained
significantly unchanged.

Roberto Faranda - Dipartimento di Energia

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Indirect Arc Furnace

Bassanese Furnace

Stassano Furnace
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Indirect Arc Furnace

The main disadvantages of indirect arc furnaces are:

 reduced capacity: a maximum of 3 tons of material can be

melted in a single charge, in fact, being the small point heat
source, the surface area is necessarily limited;
 difficulty in regulation;
 rapid consumption of the electrodes mainly due to the
frequent breaking of them;
 high consumption: in the case of steel smelting, an average
consumption of no less than 1 kWh/kg of molten steel can
be expected;
 poor energy transfer and, consequently, high melting time.

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Direct Arc Furnace

Heroult Furnace
Girod Furnace
Roberto Faranda - Dipartimento di Energia
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Direct Arc Furnace

For safety reasons it is necessary to operate arc furnaces with

voltages not higher than 500÷600 V; this demands the
secondary side of the furnace transformer to have very large
currents (tens of kA) in normal operation, and even higher when
contacts between electrodes and the bath occur. This situation,
which constitutes a real short circuit of the user circuit, causes
considerable electrodynamic stresses in the furnace
transformer, requiring a very particular construction. In order to
limit the current to tolerable values, an adequate sizing of the
transformer-furnace circuit may be enough, but almost always a
reactor must be inserted in the upstream circuit of the
transformer of the furnace.

Roberto Faranda - Dipartimento di Energia

 Electrical Applications
Characteristics of Arc Furnace
Roberto Faranda
Dipartimento di Energia,
Via La Masa, 34 (Bovisa)
+39.02.2399.3793
 8
Characteristics of Electric Arc

Current absorbed
Length of the Arc
Silent Arc
Voltage drop in the
Arc

Unstable Arc

Stable Arc

l - increasing
Roberto Faranda - Dipartimento di Energia
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V-I Characteristics

Zone I Zone II Zone III

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V-I Characteristics

The electric arc is divided into three zones:

 Silent Arc: as i increases Va decrases considerably. For
characteristics of this zone the Ayrton equation is valid:

Va  A  B l 
C  D l
i
where A, B, C, D are positive constants that depend on the diameter, on the physical
nature of the electrode and on the interposed gas, and l is the length of the arc.

 Unstable Arc: intermittent arc;

 Stable Arc: where Va remains practically constant as the i
varies, and independent of the change in length of the arc.
In this area the following expression is valid:

Va  A  B  l
Roberto Faranda - Dipartimento di Energia
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V-I Characteristics

Unstable operating point Stable operating point

R+Arc

Arc

I of operation

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Characteristics of Electric Arc

the higher the

current I, the
greater is the
flat part

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Characteristics of Electric Arc

I - increasing

I - decreasing

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Representative Models

Model 1

1
Model 2
 r i   i dt  Ra  I
2 2

T T

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Electric Circuit Model of Furnance

Relative to primary side

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Hypothesis

 the supply network of the previous circuit has an infinite

power and the supply voltage is sinusoidal;
 the stable impedance of the arc is purely inductive; note
that this hypothesis is valid, because in practice the
relationship with the resistance varies from 5 to 10;
 the arc can be represented with a square wave generator of
amplitude Va. Even if it is improper, it can be said that the
arc voltage is in phase with the arc current, in the sense
that it reverses its sign in correspondence with the zero of
the current.

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Furnace Current

VM V V
i t     cos  t     a    t  M  cos 
X X X

In the circuit under examination

(mainly inductive), the beginning
of the current (the positive half-
wave) can only occur at an
angle   1
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Continous Mode of Operation

It is physically impossible 0    1   1 cos   cos 1

Because, in order for the conduction to be continuous the

duration of a half wave must be equal to 180°, therefore:
VM Va VM
i t  t    cos         cos 
X X X
Va 
From above equation we obtain cos   
VM 2
2
Va  Va 
Remembering that sin 1   we get cos1   1   
VM  VM 
Va
 0,537
VM

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Continous Mode of Operation

Va
 0,537   1
VM

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Continous Mode of Operation

Va
 0, 537   1
VM

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Discontinous Mode of Operation

Va
 0,537   1
VM

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Operation with R≠0

From the condition for conduction, it can be observed that it is

possible only if φ≥φ1, the condition φ<φ1 is not possible. In particular,
it can be said that for φ>φ1 conduction is obligatorily continuous, while
for φ=φ1 it is not possible a priori to establish whether conduction is
continuous or not, the limit value for conduction also depends on R
and L of the circuit. If the circuit was totally resistive, conduction could
never be continuous. In relation to the current harmonics and the
fundamental component, it can be observed that these can be
evaluated by the composition of the currents generated respectively
by the square wave generator, by amplitude Va, and by the sinusoidal
network generator. It is also useful to observe how, at the source of a
reduction of the voltage harmonics applied to the circuit, an increase
in reactance is manifested with the order of harmonics, so that, with
high values of L, the upper harmonics of current can be sufficiently
contained.
Roberto Faranda - Dipartimento di Energia