A production process capable of saving energy in electrolytic copper melting

Abstract

The present invention discloses a production system and production process that can save energy in electric copper melting. The production system includes a conveying station, a vacuum suction cup sorting robot, a shearing machine, a copper plate conveyor, and a PLC electronic control system. The conveying station automatically advances after a light spot switch senses that a copper plate is empty in the sorting area. The vacuum suction cup sorting robot is used to grab the copper plates delivered by the conveying station and transfer them to the feed end of the shearing machine. The shearing machine is used to cut the copper plates to a set size. The copper plate conveyor is used to convey the cut copper plates to a feeding cart or a rake bucket. The PLC electronic control system controls the operation of various components within the system. The present invention utilizes an online continuous shearing device to intelligently control the transportation, grabbing, cutting, and feeding of electric copper, thereby achieving proportional feeding of large and small plates of electric copper, increasing the gap between the distribution of electric copper in the vertical furnace, improving flame penetration and melting capacity, and improving melting efficiency, thereby achieving the production goals of reducing gas consumption and effectively reducing melting energy.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of copper production, and in particular to a production system and a production process capable of saving electric copper melting energy. Background Art

[0002] The SCR continuous casting and rolling line is currently the world's most advanced copper rod production line. Through continuous feeding and natural gas combustion in a vertical furnace, the line achieves continuous melting, casting, rolling, and coiling, with a production capacity of up to 35 tons per hour. The SCR continuous casting and rolling line primarily consumes natural gas, electricity, acetylene, and water. Natural gas required for copper plate melting accounts for over 50% of production costs and over 70% of energy consumption. Therefore, copper plate melting efficiency directly impacts copper rod production costs.

[0003] SCR production lines typically use cathode copper plates as their primary raw material. Supplementary materials such as casting rakes, scrap rods, and scrap wire that meet the addition requirements are added during the production process. Due to the high continuity of production, the supplementary materials account for less than 1%. A forklift first places the entire package of cathode copper plates flatly into the charging hopper, then tilts the entire package of cathode copper plates against the charging hopper. The forklift operator pulls down the automatic charging rope, which automatically adds the cathode copper plates to the charging port of the vertical furnace. Electrolytic copper is poured into the vertical furnace through the charging port. Once in the vertical furnace, the copper plates stack up on top of each other. The gaps between the copper plates are too small, making it difficult for the flame generated by the burner at the bottom of the vertical furnace to penetrate the interior of the copper plates, affecting the melting efficiency of the copper plates. To improve melting efficiency and ensure production speed, the only way to achieve the melting target is to increase gas consumption, resulting in high fuel consumption and a significant increase in production costs. Practical tracking has revealed varying melting efficiencies for different raw materials. Casting rakes, scrap rod, scrap wire, and small-sized copper plates all melt faster under similar gas consumption conditions. However, electrolytic ISA method copper, due to its smooth surface and small plate spacing, cannot separate after feeding, hindering gas efficiency. This significantly increases gas consumption during vertical furnace melting, creating challenges for melting. Compared to the same melting capacity, the melting energy consumption of small-sized copper plates is approximately 2 m³ / t lower than that of ISA method copper, a significant factor influencing the direct costs of copper rod production.

[0004] With existing technologies, electrolytic copper production processes are already stable and mature, making it difficult for smelters to optimize and adjust their processes. With the advancement of global industrialization, climate change is a new challenge facing humanity. With the established timelines for achieving peak carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, developing a low-carbon economy and reshaping the energy system are of vital importance for national security. SCR continuous casting and rolling lines, which melt copper sheets using natural gas combustion, are also a major source of carbon emissions due to their high production capacity and high fossil energy consumption.

[0005] In summary, the high energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with the Essafa copper shaft furnace melting process have become significant factors hindering energy conservation, emission reduction, and green development initiatives, creating a bottleneck restricting SCR continuous casting production technology and cost control. Therefore, the development of a production process that can conserve energy for electric copper melting is urgent. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a production system and production process that can save energy in melting copper. The system uses an online continuous shearing device to intelligently control the transportation, grabbing, cutting and feeding of copper, so as to achieve proportional feeding of large and small copper plates, increase the gaps between the distribution of copper in the vertical furnace, improve the flame penetration and melting ability, and improve the melting efficiency, thereby achieving the production goals of reducing gas consumption and effectively reducing melting energy.

[0007] The technical solution provided by the present invention to solve the above problems is: a production system that can save energy for electric copper melting, including a conveying station, a vacuum suction cup sorting robot, a shearing machine, a copper plate conveyor and a PLC electronic control system. The conveying station can automatically advance after sensing the vacancy of copper plates in the sorting area through a light spot switch. The vacuum suction cup sorting robot is used to grab the copper plates conveyed by the conveying station and transfer them to the feed end of the shearing machine. The shearing machine is used to cut the copper plates to a set size. The copper plate conveyor is used to transport the cut copper plates to a feeding trolley or a rake bucket. The PLC electronic control system controls the operation of various components inside the system.

[0008] Preferably, a feeding device is provided in the conveying station, and the feeding device can transport the copper plates by automatic lifting.

[0009] Preferably, an automatic lifting mechanism is provided in the feeding device, and after the copper plates move forward, the automatic lifting mechanism automatically rises and falls to provide conditions for employees to place the copper plates.

[0010] Preferably, the vacuum suction cup sorting robot has two groups.

[0011] Preferably, a shearing machine feeding device is provided in the shearing machine, and the shearing machine feeding device is sensed by a photoelectric switch and automatically pushes the copper plate to the shearing area by opening and closing the cylinder, and the pushing mode can be set independently.

[0012] Preferably, the copper plate conveyor comprises a small plate copper conveyor and a discharging conveyor.

[0013] Preferably, the copper plate conveyor has a two-way conveying capability and can independently select the discharge direction and feeding method.

[0014] Preferably, the shearing width of the copper plate is controlled at 200-600 mm.

[0015] The present invention also discloses a production process capable of saving energy for electrolytic copper melting, comprising the following steps:

[0016] The forklift operator transports the copper plates from the copper plate stacking area to the feeding device in the conveying station;

[0017] The feeding device is sensed by the photoelectric switch and transported to the grabbing position of the vacuum suction cup sorting robot. Two sets of vacuum suction cup sorting robots automatically grab the copper plates on the feeding device and place them on the feeding end of the shearing machine.

[0018] The copper plate is pushed to the shearing machine by the hydraulic push rod at the feed end. After the copper plate is cut into different specifications by the shearing machine, the copper plate at the rear of the feed end rolls through the bottom conveying station and is transported to the working range of the hydraulic push rod. The hydraulic push rod senses and pushes repeatedly to achieve continuous shearing of the copper plate.

[0019] After cutting, the copper plates fall onto the copper plate conveyor and run continuously through the conveyor. The cut copper plates can be directly dropped into the vertical furnace feeder or into a separate rake bucket at their own discretion. The cut small plates and normal large plates are mixed and fed in proportion.

[0020] The present invention utilizes an online continuous shearing device to intelligently control the transportation, grabbing, cutting, and feeding of electrolytic copper, achieving proportional feeding of large and small electrolytic copper plates. This increases the gap between the electrolytic copper distribution within the vertical furnace, improves flame penetration and melting capacity, and improves melting efficiency, thereby achieving the production goals of reducing gas consumption and effectively reducing melting energy. The feeding device is used to automatically transport copper plates from the forklift placement point to the grabbing position of the sorting robot via induction. The vacuum suction cup sorting robot includes two groups of robots, which are used to sequentially grab copper plates from the feeding device and deliver them to the shearing machine feed end. The shearing machine automatically cuts the delivered copper plates in half according to system settings to reduce the size of the copper plates. The copper plate conveyor includes a small copper plate conveyor (for shearing discharge) and a discharge conveyor, which meet the needs of direct feeding and copper plate storage, and is used to transfer the corresponding copper plates after cutting. The PLC electronic control system controls all actions and time nodes before and after copper plate conveying and shearing, ensuring a stable process before and after copper plate cutting to meet production requirements.

[0021] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are: the present invention utilizes a shearing machine to cut the copper plate, cutting the size of the copper plate from 1000mm*1000mm to 500mm*1000mm or smaller, and through the feeding device, vacuum suction cup sorting robot, copper plate conveyor, etc. under the automatic control and cooperation of the PLC electronic control system, realizes continuous cutting and automatic feeding of the copper plates, disrupts the stacking mode of the copper plates, increases the gap between the copper plates, and realizes the distribution form of the copper plates in the vertical furnace body after the copper plates are fed from the vertical furnace feeding port through reasonable material matching with the existing copper plates, thereby improving the gas copper melting efficiency and achieving the energy saving, consumption reduction and emission reduction goals; through tracking and verification, the natural gas consumption per ton of normal melting of copper plates can be reduced by about 2 cubic meters / ton, the natural gas consumption is reduced by 5%, and the 220,000-ton SCR continuous casting and rolling production line saves more than 400,000 cubic meters of natural gas annually. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] The drawings described herein are used to provide further understanding of the present invention and constitute a part of the present invention. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention and their descriptions are used to explain the present invention and do not constitute improper limitations on the present invention.

[0023] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall left-side structure of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the left side structure of the feeding device of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the top view of the vacuum suction cup sorting robot of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 4 This is a left-side structural schematic diagram of the shearing machine of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 5 It is a left-side structural schematic diagram of the copper plate conveyor of the present invention.

[0028] The attached drawings are marked as follows: 1. Feeding device, 2. Vacuum suction cup sorting robot 1, 3. Conveying station, 4. Shearing machine feeding device, 5. Vacuum suction cup sorting robot 2, 6. Shearing machine, 7. Small plate copper conveyor, 8. Discharging conveyor. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] The following will describe the embodiments of the present invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples, so that the implementation process of how the present invention applies technical means to solve technical problems and achieve technical effects can be fully understood and implemented accordingly.

[0030] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, for directional words, such as the terms "center", "horizontal", "longitudinal", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise" and so on, indicating directions and positional relationships, are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific direction, be constructed and operated in a specific direction, and cannot be understood as limiting the specific scope of protection of the present invention.

[0031] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features. Therefore, the terms "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly refer to one or more of these features. Throughout the description of the present invention, "several" means two or more, unless otherwise specifically defined.

[0032] In the present invention, unless otherwise specified or limited, the terms "assemble," "connect," and "connect" should be understood in a broad sense. For example, they may refer to fixed connection, detachable connection, or integral connection; mechanical connection; direct connection, connection through an intermediate medium, or internal communication between two components. Those skilled in the art will understand the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention based on specific circumstances.

[0033] It will be understood that when used in this specification and the appended claims, the terms “comprises” and “comprising” indicate the presence of described features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and / or groups thereof.

[0034] It should also be understood that the terms used in this description of the embodiments of the present invention are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present invention. As used in the description of the embodiments of the present invention and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0035] Example 1

[0036] This embodiment discloses a production system that can save energy for electric copper melting. Figure 1-5As shown, it includes a conveying station, a vacuum suction cup sorting robot, a shearing machine, a copper plate conveyor and a PLC electronic control system. The conveying station can automatically advance after sensing the vacancy of copper plates in the sorting area through a light spot switch. The vacuum suction cup sorting robot is used to grab the copper plates conveyed by the conveying station and transfer them to the feed end of the shearing machine. The shearing machine is used to cut the copper plates to the set size. The copper plate conveyor is used to transport the cut copper plates to the feeding trolley or rake bucket. The PLC electronic control system controls the operation of various components inside the system.

[0037] Among them, a feeding device is provided in the conveying station, and the feeding device can transport the copper plates by automatic lifting.

[0038] Specifically, an automatic lifting mechanism is provided in the feeding device, and after the copper plates move forward, the automatic lifting mechanism automatically rises and falls to provide conditions for employees to place the copper plates.

[0039] It should be noted that there are two groups of vacuum suction cup picking robots, specifically including vacuum suction cup picking robot 1 and vacuum suction cup picking robot 2.

[0040] Among them, the shearing machine is equipped with a shearing machine feeding device. The shearing machine feeding device is sensed by a photoelectric switch and uses the opening and closing of the cylinder to automatically push the copper plate to the shearing machine cutting area, and the pushing mode can be set independently.

[0041] In this embodiment, the copper plate conveyor includes a small copper plate conveyor and a discharge conveyor.

[0042] In this embodiment, the copper plate conveyor has a two-way conveying capability and can independently select the discharge direction and feeding method.

[0043] Among them, the shearing width of the copper plate is controlled at 200~600mm.

[0044] Example 2

[0045] This embodiment discloses a production process that can save energy for electrolytic copper melting, comprising the following steps:

[0046] The forklift operator transports the copper plates from the copper plate stacking area to the feeding device in the conveying station;

[0047] The feeding device is sensed by the photoelectric switch and transported to the grabbing position of the vacuum suction cup sorting robot. Two sets of vacuum suction cup sorting robots automatically grab the copper plates on the feeding device and place them on the feeding end of the shearing machine.

[0048] The copper plate is pushed to the shearing machine by the hydraulic push rod at the feed end. After the copper plate is cut into different specifications by the shearing machine, the copper plate at the rear of the feed end rolls through the bottom conveying station and is transported to the working range of the hydraulic push rod. The hydraulic push rod senses and pushes repeatedly to achieve continuous shearing of the copper plate.

[0049] After cutting, the copper plates fall onto the copper plate conveyor and run continuously through the conveyor. The cut copper plates can be directly dropped into the vertical furnace feeder or into a separate rake bucket at their own discretion. The cut small plates and normal large plates are mixed and fed in proportion.

[0050] This solution effectively improves the stacking of copper plates within the vertical furnace, increasing the gaps between them, enhancing mutual penetration and melting efficiency, and reducing gas consumption. Through system optimization using the integrated PLC electronic control, consistent speeds are ensured for copper plate conveying, robotic gripping, feed-end conveying, cutting, and discharge, significantly improving cutting efficiency and ensuring that material matching requirements are met while reducing energy consumption.

[0051] The above description is merely a description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the claims. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and variations in the specific structure are permitted. Any variations within the scope of the independent claims of the present invention are also within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A production process capable of saving energy in electrolytic copper melting, characterized in that: The following steps are included: The forklift operator transports the copper plates from the copper plate stacking area to the feeding device in the conveying station; The feeding device is sensed by the photoelectric switch and transported to the grabbing position of the vacuum suction cup sorting robot. Two sets of vacuum suction cup sorting robots automatically grab the copper plates on the feeding device and place them on the feeding end of the shearing machine. The copper plate is pushed to the shearing machine by the hydraulic push rod at the feed end. The cutting width of the copper plate of the shearing machine is controlled at 200~600mm. After the copper plate with a size of 1000mm*1000mm is cut into different specifications by the shearing machine, the copper plate at the rear of the feed end is rolled through the bottom conveying station and transported to the working range of the hydraulic push rod. After the hydraulic push rod senses, it pushes repeatedly to realize continuous cutting of the copper plate. After cutting, the copper plates fall onto the copper plate conveyor and run continuously on the conveyor. The cut copper plates can be directly dropped into the vertical furnace feeder or into a separate rake bucket at their own discretion. By feeding the cut small plates and the normal large plates in proportion, the stacking form of the copper plates in the vertical furnace is effectively improved and the gaps between the copper plates are increased.

2. The production process for saving electric copper melting energy according to claim 1, characterized in that: A feeding device is provided in the conveying station, and the feeding device can transport the copper plates by automatically lifting and lowering.

3. The production process for saving electric copper melting energy according to claim 2, characterized in that: An automatic lifting mechanism is provided in the feeding device, and after the copper plate moves forward, the automatic lifting mechanism automatically rises and falls to provide conditions for employees to place the copper plate.

4. The production process for saving electric copper melting energy according to claim 1, characterized in that: The vacuum suction cup picking robot has two groups.

5. The production process for saving electric copper melting energy according to claim 1, characterized in that: The shearing machine is provided with a shearing machine feeding device. The shearing machine feeding device is sensed by a photoelectric switch and uses the opening and closing of the cylinder to automatically push the copper plate to the shearing machine cutting area. The pushing mode can be set independently.

6. The production process for saving electric copper melting energy according to claim 1, characterized in that: The copper plate conveyor comprises a small copper plate conveyor and a discharging conveyor.

7. The production process for saving electric copper melting energy according to claim 6, characterized in that: The copper plate conveyor has a two-way conveying capability and can independently select the discharging direction and feeding method.

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