Multi-station suspension smelting equipment

Abstract

The utility model provides multi-station suspension smelting equipment, which is characterized in that a smelting device is arranged in a smelting chamber, the upper end of the smelting chamber is provided with a chamber cover, and the side wall of the smelting chamber is provided with a vacuum interface and an electrode interface; the smelting device comprises a water-cooled copper crucible, a crucible rack, an induction coil and a coaxial water-cooled electrode, the water-cooled copper crucible is mounted on the crucible rack, the induction coil is mounted on the periphery of the water-cooled copper crucible in a surrounding manner, and the coaxial water-cooled electrode is mounted in an electrode interface; the induction power supply comprises a power supply cabinet, a cable, a transformer cabinet and an electrode combination device, the power supply cabinet is combined with the transformer cabinet through the cable, and the transformer cabinet is combined with the coaxial water-cooled electrode mounted on the side wall of the smelting chamber through the electrode combination device; the vacuum-argon filling device comprises a vacuum unit and an argon filling pipeline; the argon filling pipeline is arranged in a vacuum interface on the side wall of the smelting chamber; more than two electrode interfaces are arranged along the side wall of the smelting chamber, each electrode interface is provided with a set of smelting device in the smelting chamber, the transformer cabinet can move, and the power supply cabinet is connected with the transformer cabinet through a flexible cable.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model belongs to the technical field of metal smelting, in particular to a multi-station suspension smelting device. Background Art

[0002] Suspension smelting technology is an advanced technology for smelting high-end metal materials. As its application in high-tech fields becomes more and more common, users have also put forward higher and higher requirements on the working efficiency of the equipment.

[0003] During the suspension smelting process, the heating and melting of the material only takes a few minutes, while the vacuuming process before melting the material and the cooling time of the material after melting take one to several hours, which greatly reduces the production efficiency of suspension smelting.

[0004] Therefore, there is an urgent need for a multi-station suspension smelting equipment that can improve the production efficiency of suspension smelting and solve the above problems. Utility Model Content

[0005] In order to solve the above problems, the utility model designs a multi-station suspension smelting equipment, which is equipped with multiple stations in a smelting chamber, and each station is equipped with a smelting device with a cold crucible as the main body; a transformer of an induction power supply is installed around the equipment and is sequentially combined with the smelting device of one station to complete a smelting task; this multi-station equipment concentrates the vacuuming and cooling time of each smelting process into the vacuuming and cooling time of one time, thereby greatly improving the efficiency of the smelting work.

[0006] The utility model proposes a multi-station suspension smelting equipment, comprising a smelting chamber, a smelting device, an induction power supply and a vacuum-argon filling device;

[0007] The smelting device is sealed and installed in the smelting chamber. The upper end of the smelting chamber is sealed and provided with a chamber cover. The side wall of the smelting chamber is provided with a vacuum interface for installing a vacuum-argon filling device and an electrode interface for installing a coaxial water-cooled electrode.

[0008] The smelting device includes a water-cooled copper crucible, a crucible stand, an induction coil, and a coaxial water-cooled electrode. The water-cooled copper crucible is mounted on the crucible stand, the induction coil is mounted around the outer periphery of the water-cooled copper crucible, and the coaxial water-cooled electrode is mounted in an electrode interface on the side wall of the smelting chamber in a dynamic sealing manner.

[0009] The induction power supply includes a power supply cabinet, a cable, a transformer cabinet and an electrode coupling device. The power supply cabinet is coupled to the transformer cabinet via a cable, and the transformer cabinet is coupled to a coaxial water-cooled electrode mounted on the side wall of the smelting chamber via the electrode coupling device.

[0010] The vacuum-argon filling device includes a vacuum unit and an argon filling pipeline, and the argon filling pipeline is installed in a vacuum interface on the side wall of the melting chamber in a sealed manner;

[0011] Among them, more than two electrode interfaces are set along the side wall of the smelting chamber, and a smelting device is installed in the smelting chamber at each electrode interface to form a smelting station; the power supply cabinet and the transformer cabinet are connected by a flexible cable, and the transformer cabinet can move to different electrode interfaces to drive the smelting device at the smelting station to operate.

[0012] Furthermore, the smelting device also includes a casting mold and a crucible tilting mechanism;

[0013] The coaxial water-cooled electrode is connected to the crucible frame; the crucible tilting mechanism is installed outside the smelting chamber and is combined with the coaxial water-cooled electrode.

[0014] Furthermore, the coaxial water-cooled electrode is connected to the crucible holder and the crucible tilting mechanism in an insulated manner.

[0015] Furthermore, the coaxial water-cooled electrodes of adjacent smelting devices have different lengths.

[0016] Furthermore, the side wall of the smelting chamber is also provided with an observation window and / or a temperature measuring window and / or a feeder and / or a tamping rod.

[0017] Furthermore, the coaxial water-cooled electrode is connected to the crucible holder and the crucible tilting mechanism through an insulating plate.

[0018] Furthermore, the water-cooled copper crucible is slit along its height direction, so that the water-cooled copper crucible becomes a structure composed of petals;

[0019] Wherein, a cooling water channel is provided in each crucible petal.

[0020] Furthermore, the multi-station suspension smelting equipment also includes a cooling system to supply cooling water to the smelting device, the induction power supply, the smelting chamber and the vacuum unit.

[0021] Furthermore, the multi-station suspension melting equipment also includes a control system to control the movement of the crucible tilting mechanism, the operation of the vacuum-argon filling device and the cooling system.

[0022] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are:

[0023] By setting multiple workstations for the smelting device in the suspension smelting equipment, multiple smelting processes can be completed after one furnace opening and charging, shortening the time for multiple vacuuming and multiple cooling of metal ingots to about the time for one vacuuming and about the time for one cooling, thereby greatly improving the production efficiency of suspension smelting. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiment below. The accompanying drawings are for illustration purposes only and are not to be considered as limiting the present invention. The same reference symbols are used throughout the accompanying drawings to represent the same components. In the accompanying drawings:

[0025] Figure 1 This is the overall structure diagram of the single-station suspension smelting equipment;

[0026] Figure 2 This is the overall structural diagram of the smelting device of the suspension smelting equipment;

[0027] Figure 3 This is the overall structure diagram of the multi-station suspension smelting equipment;

[0028] Figure 4 This is the overall structure diagram of the staggered layout of multi-station suspension smelting equipment.

[0029] In the figure, 01- melting chamber, 02- melting device, 03- induction power supply, 04- vacuum-argon filling device, 05- chamber door, 06- chamber cover, 07- vacuum interface, 08- electrode interface, 09- observation window, 10- water-cooled copper crucible, 11- crucible rack, 12- induction coil, 13- coaxial water-cooled electrode, 14- casting mold, 15- crucible tilting mechanism, 16- insulating plate, 17- petal, 18- cooling water channel, 19- power supply cabinet, 20- cable, 21- transformer cabinet, 22- electrode combination device, 23- vacuum unit, 24- argon filling pipeline. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of this application more clearly understood, the present application is described and illustrated below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and examples. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely used to explain this application and are not intended to limit this application. Based on the embodiments provided in this application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without making any creative efforts are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0031] like Figure 1-4 As shown, this embodiment provides a multi-station suspension smelting equipment, in which multiple stations are set for the smelting device. Multiple smelting processes can be completed after one furnace opening and charging, and the time for multiple vacuuming and multiple cooling of metal ingots is shortened to about the time for one vacuuming and about the time for one cooling, thereby greatly improving the production efficiency of suspension smelting.

[0032] Key References Figure 1 The multi-station suspension melting equipment includes a melting chamber 01, a melting device 02, an induction power supply 03, a vacuum-argon filling device 04, a cooling system and a control system.

[0033] Among them, combined with Figure 1-2 The smelting chamber 01 is configured as a sealed structure for mounting the smelting device 02. A chamber cover 06 is sealed at the upper end of the smelting chamber 01. The sidewalls of the smelting chamber 01 are provided with a chamber door 05, a vacuum port 07 for mounting the vacuum-argon filling device 04, and an electrode port 08 for mounting the coaxial water-cooled electrode 13. It is understood that the sidewalls of the smelting chamber 01 may also be provided with other ports and devices, such as an observation window 09, a temperature measuring window, a feeder, a tamping rod, etc.

[0034] Continue to combine Figure 1-2 The smelting device 02 includes a water-cooled copper crucible 10, a crucible stand 11, an induction coil 12, a coaxial water-cooled electrode 13, a casting mold 14, and a crucible tilting mechanism 15. The water-cooled copper crucible 10 is mounted on the crucible stand 11, the induction coil 12 is mounted around the outer circumference of the water-cooled copper crucible 10, and the coaxial water-cooled electrode 13 is mounted in an electrode interface 08 on the side wall of the smelting chamber 01 in a dynamic sealing manner. It is coupled to the induction coil 12 within the smelting chamber 01 to supply power to the induction coil 12 and is connected to the crucible stand 11. The crucible tilting mechanism 15 is mounted outside the smelting chamber 01 and coupled to the coaxial water-cooled electrode 13. By driving the coaxial water-cooled electrode 13 and the crucible stand 11, the crucible tilting mechanism 15 drives the water-cooled copper crucible 10 to achieve a tilting casting action.

[0035] Preferably, the coaxial water-cooled electrode 13 is connected to the crucible holder 11 and the crucible tilting mechanism 15 in an insulated manner, for example, via an insulating plate 16 .

[0036] It can be understood that the water-cooled copper crucible 10 is a cylindrical container for carrying the smelted material. In order to allow the electromagnetic field to penetrate the crucible wall, the water-cooled copper crucible 10 is slit along its height direction, so that the water-cooled copper crucible 10 has a structure composed of petals 17; in order to enable the water-cooled copper crucible 10 to withstand high temperatures, a cooling water channel 18 is provided in each crucible petal 17.

[0037] See also Figure 1 The induction power supply 03 includes a power supply cabinet 19, a cable 20, a transformer cabinet 21 and an electrode combination device 22. The power supply cabinet 19 is connected to the transformer cabinet 21 through the cable 20, and the transformer cabinet 21 is connected to the coaxial water-cooled electrode 13 installed on the side wall of the smelting chamber 01 through the electrode combination device 22.

[0038] The vacuum-argon filling device 04 evacuates and fills the melting chamber 01 with argon and includes a vacuum unit 23 and an argon filling line 24. The cooling system supplies cooling water to the melting device 02, the induction power supply 03, the melting chamber 02, and the vacuum unit 23. The control system controls the operation of the crucible tilting device 15, the vacuum-argon filling device 04, the cooling system, and other operations of the multi-station suspension melting equipment.

[0039] Therefore, the suspension smelting process includes adding materials to the water-cooled copper crucible 10, evacuating the smelting chamber 01 and filling it with argon (set as needed); starting the induction power supply 03 to heat the materials and melt the materials to complete the smelting process; tilting the water-cooled copper crucible 10 to inject molten metal into the casting mold 14 to complete the casting process; cooling the metal ingot in the casting mold 14, opening the smelting chamber 01 to take out the metal ingot, and other operations.

[0040] Understandably, the heating and melting processes in suspension melting generally take only a few minutes, while the vacuuming process can take approximately half an hour or more. Levitation melting places stringent demands on product quality. To prevent oxidation, the material must be fully cooled before the melting chamber 01 can be opened and removed. Therefore, cooling typically takes from one to several hours, with even longer cooling times required for active metals. Consequently, the vacuuming and cooling processes significantly reduce the production efficiency of suspension melting.

[0041] Key References Figure 3 To improve the production efficiency of suspension smelting, the multi-station suspension smelting equipment of this embodiment features two or more electrode interfaces 08 along the sidewalls of the smelting chamber 01. Each electrode interface 08 is located within the smelting chamber 01, and a smelting device 02 is installed within the smelting chamber 01. The smelting chamber 01 has no door; loading and unloading of materials are accomplished by opening the chamber lid 06. The power supply cabinet 19 of the induction power supply 03 is fixed, while the transformer cabinet 21 is movable. A long flexible cable 20 connects the power supply cabinet 19 and the transformer cabinet 21. As will be appreciated, the increased number of stations necessitates a larger size for the smelting chamber 01, and accordingly, the specifications of the vacuum unit 23 must also be increased.

[0042] It is worth noting that although large-scale single-station suspension melting equipment also has high production efficiency, multi-station equipment can be used to produce multiple products with different requirements, such as products with different compositions, different processes or different casting shapes.

[0043] It should be noted that, since multiple smelting devices 02 are arranged in a limited space, and each smelting device 02 is composed of multiple components, and the water-cooled copper crucible 10 is tilted during the smelting process, adjacent smelting devices 02 may interfere with each other. In order to avoid interference between the smelting devices 02 in terms of space and movement, the general approach is to significantly increase the size of the smelting chamber 01. A better approach is to stagger the layout of the smelting devices 02. This allows the coaxial water-cooled electrodes 13 of adjacent smelting devices 02 to have different lengths. Figure 4 When the second method is adopted, the increase in the size of the smelting chamber 01 can be reduced.

[0044] Therefore, before starting the smelting process, material is added to the water-cooled copper crucible 10 of each smelting device 02 within the smelting chamber 01. After closing the chamber lid 06, the smelting chamber 01 is evacuated and filled with argon (as needed). Next, the transformer cabinet 21 is moved to an electrode interface 08 and coupled to the coaxial water-cooled electrode 13 installed at that electrode interface 08 via the electrode coupling device 22. After activating the induction power supply 19, the coupled coaxial water-cooled electrode 13 supplies power to the induction coil 12, heating the material in the crucible 10 and completing the first smelting and casting process. The electrode coupling device 22 at that electrode interface 08 is then removed, and the transformer cabinet 21 is moved to the next electrode interface 08, coupling it to the coaxial water-cooled electrode there, completing the second smelting and casting process. This process is repeated, and the transformer cabinet 21 is sequentially moved to each electrode interface 08, completing the smelting and casting process at each electrode interface 08. Finally, after waiting for the metal ingots in the casting mold to cool, the chamber lid 06 is opened to remove the individual metal ingots.

[0045] The multi-station levitation smelting equipment of this embodiment reduces the multiple vacuuming and cooling times required for multiple smelting and casting processes to approximately the same time as one vacuuming and cooling process, thereby increasing the production efficiency of levitation smelting several times. It should be noted that due to the increased size of the smelting chamber 01, the vacuuming time required is longer than that of a single-station equipment. Since multiple metal ingots must be cooled simultaneously in a single smelting chamber 01, the total cooling time is also longer than the time required to cool a single metal ingot in a single-station equipment. However, the multi-station levitation smelting equipment produces multiple metal ingots at a time, which, compared to a single-station equipment that produces multiple metal ingots multiple times, increases the production efficiency of levitation smelting several times.

[0046] It should be noted that in some cases, the suspension smelting process can also be performed without a casting process. After the smelting process is completed, the molten metal can be cooled and solidified in a water-cooled copper crucible. In this case, the smelting apparatus does not include the casting mold 14 and the crucible tilting device 15, and the crucible tilting operation is not performed during the smelting process.

[0047] In order to better understand this embodiment, some specific examples are provided here:

[0048] Example 1:

[0049] This embodiment is a five-station suspension smelting equipment ( Figure 3 ), the melting capacity of the melting device at each station is 1kg (Ti).

[0050] The stainless steel melting chamber 01 has a diameter of 1.2 meters and consists of a chamber body and a chamber cover 06. A vacuum port 07 for installing a vacuum unit is located at the rear of the chamber body. Five electrode ports 08 are evenly spaced along the other sides of the chamber body. Five observation windows 09 are located on the chamber cover, corresponding to each workstation.

[0051] The smelting chamber is equipped with five smelting devices 02. Each smelting device consists of a water-cooled copper crucible 10, a crucible stand 11, an induction coil 12, a coaxial water-cooled electrode 13, a casting mold 14, and a crucible tilting mechanism 15. The crucible is mounted on the crucible stand, and the induction coil is installed around the crucible. The coaxial water-cooled electrode is 100 mm long within the smelting chamber and is installed in a dynamic seal within the electrode interface 08 of the smelting chamber. It connects to the induction coil within the smelting chamber to supply power to the induction coil and is insulated from the crucible stand. The crucible tilting mechanism is installed outside the smelting chamber and insulated from the coaxial water-cooled electrode. It drives the coaxial water-cooled electrode and the crucible stand to tilt the crucible and achieve casting.

[0052] The inner diameter of the water-cooled copper crucible is 80 mm and the height is 180 mm. It is divided into 20 petals along the height direction, and a cooling water channel is provided in each half petal.

[0053] The induction power supply is 200kW and consists of a power supply cabinet 19, a flexible cable 20, a transformer cabinet 21, and an electrode coupling device 22. The power supply cabinet is connected to the transformer cabinet via a flexible cable. The transformer cabinet is movable and is coupled to the coaxial water-cooled electrode 13 mounted on the side wall of the smelting chamber via the electrode coupling device.

[0054] Other parts of the equipment include vacuum-argon filling device, cooling system and control system.

[0055] Before starting the smelting process, add 2kg of sponge titanium to the crucible of each smelting device in the smelting chamber, and after closing the chamber cover, evacuate and fill with argon for 40 minutes. Then move the transformer to the first electrode interface and combine it with the coaxial water-cooled electrode installed at the electrode interface through the electrode combining device. After starting the induction power supply, the combined electrode supplies power to the induction coil to heat the material in the crucible, and complete a smelting and casting process in 5 minutes. Then, remove the electrode combining device at the electrode interface, move the transformer to the next electrode interface, combine it with the electrode here, and complete the second smelting and casting process. Similarly, move the transformer to each electrode interface in turn to complete the smelting and casting process at each interface. After completing the 5th smelting process, turn off the induction power supply, wait for the metal ingot to cool for 1 hour, and then open the chamber cover to take out 5 titanium ingots.

[0056] The time taken to complete the melting process of 5 titanium ingots includes: 10 minutes for loading, 40 minutes for vacuuming and argon filling, 25 minutes for 5 melting and casting, 15 minutes for 5 electrode disassembly and assembly, 60 minutes for cooling and ingot removal, a total of 150 minutes.

[0057] If the smelting process is completed using single-station equipment, the time spent on each heat includes: 5 minutes for loading, 30 minutes for vacuuming and argon filling, 5 minutes for melting and casting, and 40 minutes for cooling and ingot removal, totaling 80 minutes. The total time to complete 5 heats is 400 minutes, which is 2.7 times the time spent using multi-station equipment.

[0058] Example 2:

[0059] The equipment structure and smelting process of this embodiment are the same as those of the embodiment. The difference is that the length of the coaxial water-cooled electrodes 13 of the five smelting devices installed in the smelting chamber has been changed. Two of them are lengthened to 130 mm, and the other three are shortened to 80 mm. The smelting devices with long and short electrodes are arranged in a staggered manner ( Figure 4 ).

[0060] According to this layout, the inner diameter of the smelting chamber 01 can be reduced from the original 1.2m to 1.0m. Accordingly, the specifications of the vacuum unit matched with the smelting chamber can also be appropriately reduced.

[0061] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present invention should be included in the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A multi-station suspension melting device, comprising a melting chamber (01), a melting device (02), an induction power supply (03), and a vacuum-argon filling device (04); in, The smelting device (02) is sealed and installed in the smelting chamber (01); the upper end of the smelting chamber (01) is sealed and provided with a chamber cover (06); the side wall of the smelting chamber (01) is provided with a vacuum interface (07) for installing a vacuum-argon filling device (04) and an electrode interface (08) for installing a coaxial water-cooled electrode (13); The smelting device (02) comprises a water-cooled copper crucible (10), a crucible stand (11), an induction coil (12), and a coaxial water-cooled electrode (13), wherein the water-cooled copper crucible (10) is mounted on the crucible stand (11), the induction coil (12) is mounted around the outer periphery of the water-cooled copper crucible (10), and the coaxial water-cooled electrode (13) is mounted in an electrode interface (08) on the side wall of the smelting chamber (01) in a dynamic sealing manner; The induction power supply (03) includes a power supply cabinet (19), a cable (20), a transformer cabinet (21) and an electrode combination device (22). The power supply cabinet (19) is combined with the transformer cabinet (21) via the cable (20). The transformer cabinet (21) is combined with a coaxial water-cooled electrode (13) installed on the side wall of the smelting chamber (01) via the electrode combination device (22). The vacuum-argon filling device (04) includes a vacuum unit (23) and an argon filling pipeline (24), and the argon filling pipeline (24) is installed in a vacuum interface (07) on the side wall of the melting chamber (01) in a sealed manner; The invention is characterized in that more than two electrode interfaces (08) are arranged along the side wall of the smelting chamber (01), and a set of smelting devices (02) is installed in the smelting chamber (01) at each electrode interface (08) to form a smelting station; the power supply cabinet (19) and the transformer cabinet (21) are connected by a soft cable (20), and the transformer cabinet (21) can move to different electrode interfaces (08) to drive the smelting device (02) at the smelting station to operate.

2. The multi-station suspension smelting equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The smelting device (02) further comprises a casting mold (14) and a crucible tilting mechanism (15); The coaxial water-cooled electrode (13) is connected to the crucible stand (11); and the crucible tilting mechanism (15) is installed outside the smelting chamber (01) and combined with the coaxial water-cooled electrode (13).

3. The multi-station suspension smelting equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: The coaxial water-cooled electrode (13) is connected to the crucible holder (11) and the crucible tilting mechanism (15) in an insulated manner.

4. The multi-station suspension smelting equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The coaxial water-cooled electrodes (13) of adjacent smelting devices (02) have different lengths.

5. The multi-station suspension smelting equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The side wall of the smelting chamber (01) is also provided with an observation window (09) and / or a temperature measuring window and / or a feeder and / or a tamping rod.

6. The multi-station suspension smelting equipment according to claim 3, characterized in that: The coaxial water-cooled electrode (13) is connected to the crucible stand (11) and the crucible tilting mechanism (15) via an insulating plate (16).

7. The multi-station suspension smelting equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The water-cooled copper crucible (10) is slit along its height direction, so that the water-cooled copper crucible (10) becomes a structure composed of petals (17); A cooling water channel (18) is provided in each crucible petal (17).

8. The multi-station suspension smelting equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The multi-station suspension smelting equipment further comprises a cooling system for supplying cooling water to the smelting device (02), the induction power supply (03), the smelting chamber (01) and the vacuum unit (23).

9. The multi-station suspension smelting equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: The multi-station suspension melting equipment also includes a control system for controlling the movement of the crucible tilting mechanism (15), the operation of the vacuum-argon filling device (04) and the cooling system.

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