Sealing Plug for Converter Tap Holes with Retaining Claws
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sealing plugs for tiltable converters require complex setting devices and can deform in the tap hole, leading to difficulties in handling and incomplete sealing, allowing slag to mix with liquid steel during tapping.
Innovation Solution
A sealing plug with a deformable body made of lightweight materials, including hydrocarbon compounds, plasticizers, and oils, featuring retaining claws that get stuck in the tap hole, allowing the plug to be easily inserted and deformed without a complex setting device, ensuring only liquid steel flows through.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a complex setting device with pulling claws is used to fix the sealing plug, then the sealing plug can be securely fixed in the tap hole, but the device complexity and handling difficulty increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the complex pulling claw mechanism from the setting device. Instead of using claws to grip and pull the end plate, the design extracts this function by allowing the base plate to be pushed directly through the tube, simplifying the setting device to essentially a pushing rod or applicator.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of pulling the end plate forward with claws to deform the plug, the invention inverts the approach by pushing the base plate forward through the tube. This reverse action deforms the plug body from the opposite direction, achieving the same sealing effect with much simpler mechanics.
2Reliability
If the sealing plug is made deformable to fit the tap hole, then the sealing effect improves, but the plug deforms during storage and handling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a multi-component material formulation including clay, light bodies (graphitized polystyrene, expanded glass, hollow aluminum spheres), plasticizers, and celluloses. This composition allows the plug to maintain stable shape during storage while remaining deformable during installation. The specific ratios and material properties are tuned to achieve the right balance between stability and deformability.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing plug employs a composite material system combining organic binders (clay, celluloses, plasticizers) with inorganic light bodies (graphitized polystyrene, expanded glass, hollow aluminum spheres). This composite structure provides both the mechanical stability needed for handling and the deformability required for effective sealing when pushed into the tap hole.
3Ease of operation
If the plug body is made lightweight for easy handling, then the ease of operation improves, but the structural strength may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates light bodies such as graphitized polystyrene granules, expanded glass spheres, and hollow aluminum spheres into the plug composition. These lightweight materials reduce the overall weight and improve handling ease while the organic binder matrix (clay, plasticizers, celluloses) maintains the structural integrity and strength of the composite plug body.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The plug effectively prevents slag from entering the tapping ladle, is easy to handle, and maintains a clear channel for steel flow, reducing the risk of vortices and slag contamination during tapping.
Implementation Method 1
the end plate and also the funnel channel or the tube defining it are partially melted, whereby the steel can flow in a targeted manner into the tapping ladle below
Implementation Method 2
the plug body being insertable via an applicator from the cold edge into the tap hole and being able to be fixed therein
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The liquid steel 5 is to pass through the tap hole 4 of the converter 2 into the tap ladle 3 without carrying away any slag 6. This is achieved by inserting a sealing plug 1 with its plug body 8 into the tap hole 4 using a rod or similar applicator 17 and securing it there. Securing is accomplished by the retaining claws 15, 16 attached to the plug body 8, which are embedded in the tap hole or on the tap hole 4, ensuring that either the end plate 12 is pushed towards the base plate 11, or the base plate 11 with the pipe 13 is pushed towards the end plate 12. This creates a protrusion 14 of the pipe 13, which prevents the ingress of blasted slag during the blowing process. The simple and lightweight retaining claws 15, 16 and also 20, 21 are arranged in such a way that they allow or initiate these movements.The plug body 8 is easy to handle due to its overall weight and because of the soft mass, which is achieved, among other things, by mixing a mixture of light bodies 10 and additional light bodies 28 into the clay mass 9.