Blast Furnace Stockhouse Pre-Screening Segregation Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Material segregation occurs in blast furnace stockhouses due to inconsistent grain size distribution during filling and emptying operations, leading to inefficiencies and degradation of materials.
Innovation Solution
A stockhouse arrangement with a material feeding device that screens raw granular material before storage, eliminating the need for vibrating screens below each storage bin, and incorporating design features like material guide elements and diverter bars in weighing hoppers to prevent free fall and segregation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If material is stored in conventional stockhouse bins without pre-screening, then storage capacity is maximized, but material segregation occurs during filling and emptying operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary screening action by installing a screening device at the material inlet before material enters the storage bins. This pre-screening removes fines and oversized material beforehand, ensuring that only properly sized granular material is stored in the bins, thereby preventing segregation during subsequent filling and emptying operations while maintaining storage capacity
2Manufacturing precision
If vibrating screens are installed below each storage bin to control grain size, then granulometry control is improved, but device complexity and investment costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the screening function from the traditional position below storage bins and relocates it to the material inlet before storage. This removes the need for complex vibrating screen installations at each bin location, simplifying the overall device configuration while maintaining effective granulometry control through the centralized pre-screening approach
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional stockhouse design with post-storage screening is used, then installation is simpler, but material degradation and segregation occur during handling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs the screening action preliminarily at the material inlet before material enters storage bins, rather than after storage. This preliminary screening prevents material degradation by avoiding the need for subsequent vibrating screen operations and repeated handling, while the straightforward inlet screening design maintains installation simplicity
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
This solution reduces material segregation and degradation, allowing for better control of granulometry, compact designs, reduced equipment needs, and lower investment costs, while facilitating maintenance and retrofitting existing installations.
Implementation Method 1
a vibrator is typically associated with the one or more screens
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3a~3c
AI summary
A stockhouse arrangement for a metallurgical furnace comprises a set of storage bins (12) for granular material; a material feeding device (14) associated with said set of storage bins (12), the material feeding device (14) being arranged above said set of storage bins (12) and allowing to selectively fill each of the storage bins with granular material; and a raw material feed system (22) to convey raw granular material to the material feeding device (14). A respective weighing hopper (32) is arranged downstream of each storage bin (12) and comprising an outlet associated with a feeding gate (34). A charge conveying system (30) is provided for collecting and conveying material selectively discharged from the weighing hoppers through their respective feeding gate. The material feeding device (14) is configured to screen raw granular material arriving from said raw material feed system such that only material with desired granulometry is forwarded to the respective bin(s).