MSE 3133

Refractories and Furnaces

11 July, 2021

Lecture 12: Design of an Electric Arc Furnace

Electric Arc Furnace
• Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) is a furnace which supplies heat to the charging
materials for melting by means of an electric arc.
• They have capacities from small units of approximately one ton capacity to
larger units of up to 400 tons
used for secondary
steelmaking.
• Temperatures of
industrial electric arc
furnace can be
increased to 1800°C;
while small laboratory
units can be gone up
to 3000°C.
Construction
An electric arc furnace consists of a refractory-lined vessel, usually water-cooled in
larger sizes, covered with a refractory roof, and through which one or three graphite
electrodes enter into the furnace. The furnace is primarily consisting of main parts as
follows:
1. Furnace body
 Furnace shell, Furnace wall, Door, Spout
2. Roof
3. Gear for furnace body movement
4. Electrical equipment like transformer, cables, electrode control mechanism
5. Electrode, their holder and support.
1. Furnace Body
1. Furnace Shell: The furnace shell is typically made of carbon steel sheets that are
rolled and welded. It must have sufficient strength to hold weight of the lining and
metal and withstand the pressure of the lining which expands on heating; it also
should not be heated to more than 100 to 150°C.
2. Furnace Walls: They are cylindrical in shape and extend from slag line to top of the
shell. The furnace is lined with refractory. Depending on type of melting practice,
either acid or basic refractory are used; generally basic lining is used to remove
Sulphur and Phosphorus from the melt.
3. Door: The shell has door openings cut into it and a cooling frame welded around the
door. The door-lifting supports are also welded onto the shell. The door width is about
0.25 of the diameter of reaction chamber and height is 0.8 of the width. Door is lined
with basic bricks and water cooled.
4. The spout opening is cut-out of the shell and the spout frame is welded onto the shell.
Tapping spout is a U-shaped chute lined inside with fireclay brick. It is attached to
furnace shell at an angle of 10-12 o. New EAF designs have the side slide gate spout or
bottom tapping with the use of a slide gate.
Design of
Furnace
The calculations for design of
different parts of an electric
arc furnace are on the basis of
this figure drawn.
Design of Furnace
The hearth is usually conical-spherical with the banks inclined at an angle of 450. This
form ensures quick melting.
Since density of steel at melting point is 6.88 x 103 kg/m3, hence one ton of molten
steel occupies 0.145 m3. Therefore, 100 tons molten steel will occupy 14.5 m3. (= Vm is
volume of liquid steel.)
The volume of slag, Vslag = 15% of Vm i.e., Vslag= 0.15 x 14.5 = 2.175 m3.
Therefore, total volume, Vb will be 16.675 m3.
Height of Reaction Chamber
The diameter-to-depth ratio of the bath is usually taken as,
D = 5H ---- (1)
Where, D = bath diameter, m
H = total depth of the bath, m.
The height (h1), of the spherical portion is roughly 1/5 of the total bath depth.
h1 = 0.2H ---- (2)
And the depth of the conical portion: h2 = 0.8H ---- (3)
The total volume of the bath, Vb , is the sum of the volumes of the
truncated cone and that of the spherical segment.
By virtue of the relationships given above: Vb = 0.0968 D3 (m3) ---- (4)
Therefore, 0.0968 D3 = 16.675 (m3).
Therefore, from equations 1, 2 and 3; getting the following values:
D = 5.564 m, H = 1.113 m, h1 = 0.223 m, h2 = 0.89 m.
Diameter of spherical bottom, d = D – 2(h2) = 5.564 m – 2(0.89) m = 3.784 m.
Dimensions of the Reaction Chamber
The banks of a furnace are usually made of 0.1 to 0.2 m above the door sill level or the bath surface, to ensure that the
slag does not contact the brickwork or reach the joint between the wall blocks and banks.
The diameter of the reaction chamber is: Drc = D + 0.2 (m) ---- (5)
Drc = (5.564 + 0.2) m = 5.764 m.
The following relation is recommended for the height of the reaction chamber (H1),
H1= (0.4 to 0.6) Drc ---- (6)
For large-capacity furnaces, taking the lower value (i.e. 0.4)
Therefore, H1= 2.306 m
The height of the roof (h3 ) is:
h3 = 0.15 D1 ---- (7)
Where, D1 is ≈ 1.0 m wider than Drc. So, D1 = Drc + 1.0
h3 = 0.15 (Drc + 1.0) ---- (8)
Therefore, h3 = 0.15 (5.764 + 1.0) m = 1.015 m
The total height of the roof above the bath level is given as:
H2 = H1 + h3 ---- (9)
H2 = (2.306 + 1.015) m = 3.321 m.
Dimensions of the Reaction Chamber
The recommended slope (S) for the inclination of the wall is roughly 10% of the height from the line of
banks to roof skewbacks:
Slope (S) = H1 x 0.1 = 2.306 x 0.1 m = 0.2306 m
The diameter of the reaction chamber at the level of the upper edge of the furnace shell is:
D1 = Drc + 2S ---- (10)
D1 = (5.764 + 2 x 0.2306) m = 6.2252 m.
The thickness of the lining is found by thermal analysis that
the furnace shell should not be heated above 200°C.
With the refractory lining δ m thick, the furnace will have
the following inside diameter of the shell:
Di.sh = Drc + 2 δ ---- (11)
Where, δ = 0.6 m for 100 to 200 tons capacity furnace.
Therefore, Di.sh = (5.764 + 2 x 0.6) m = 6.964 m.
Thickness of shell is kept around 0.05 m.
Therefore, outer side diameter of the shell: Do.sh = 7.064 m.
Furnace Construction
2. Roof
• The roof is a domed shape and rises about 1% in span towards the center. Roof has
three holes to allow insertion of the electrodes. There are three types of roofs:
i. fixed roof for small furnace and charging take place through the door,
ii. swing roof along with electrodes swings clearly off the body of the furnace to
allow charging from top;
iii. lifting roof is lifted from the furnace body and moves to one side to facilitate
top charging to the furnace.
3. Gear for furnace body movement
• Body of furnace needs to be titled nearly through 450 on the tapping side and 150 on
the slagging side. The tilting gear is operated either by hydraulic or electric.
Hydraulic tilting arrangement is very smooth.
4. Electrical Equipment
For an easy demonstration with the existing furnaces, the transformer power (Pap)
may be taken as 35 MVA.
Power consumption is not always equal. The average power consumed during the
melting period can be found by using a factor of 0.8 – 0.9:
Pav = 0.8 Pap = 0.8 x 35,000 kVA = 28,000 kVA ---- (12)
Useful power consumed during the melting period:
Pu = Pav cosφ.ηel = 28,000 x 0.85 x 0.9 kW = 21,420 kW ---(13)
4. Electrical Equipment
Voltage taps
• For normal course of a melting process, it is necessary to vary the power and the
length of arc during various periods of heat.
• The melting period is carried out at full power of the transformer and long arcs (the
highest voltage tap), while refining can be done at a reduced power and short arcs (a
lower tap).
• The upper voltage tap of the secondary voltage for small furnaces can be selected
by using the following empirical formulae,
• The lower voltage tap, which is resorted during the reducing period of heat, should
not exceed 120 to 163 V.
5. Electrode Diameter
The electrodes possess an appreciable electric resistivity and are heated by the
passing current, which results in up to 8% of the energy supplied being lost as heat.
Electrical losses could be reduced by using electrodes of a larger diameter, i.e. by
lowering the current density.
The diameter of electrodes can be found by the formula,
I = linear current, (A),
δ = electrode resistivity at 500°C (for graphitized electrodes δ = 10 ohm. mm2/m),
K = coefficient (for graphitized electrodes K = 2.1 W/cm2).
The diameter of electrodes can also be found by the allowable current density
(A/cm2). An EAF of 100 tons capacity typically have electrodes of ~0.6 m diameter.
End of Design of an EAF