Tiltable Reverberatory Furnace with Elevated Loading Port
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional reverberatory furnaces face challenges in efficiently melting and refining impure copper scraps due to difficult scrap insertion and low thermal efficiency, primarily due to their geometry, which limits the quantity of material that can be loaded and exposed to the flame, making the process laborious and time-consuming.
Innovation Solution
A tiltable reverberatory furnace with a central flying buttress-like structure that elevates the loading port above the side walls, allowing for increased scrap capacity, improved heat exchange, and reduced loading door opening times, featuring a loader with a ramp-like path for efficient material handling and additional burners for enhanced thermal efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If conventional reverberatory furnace geometry is used, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the scrap insertion is difficult and the quantity of material that can be loaded is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a third vertical dimension by elevating the loading port above the side walls through a flying buttress-like structure. This dimensional change allows scrap to be loaded from above rather than only from the side, significantly increasing the quantity of material that can be loaded into the furnace without increasing the horizontal footprint or basic structural complexity.
2Use of energy by moving object
If conventional reverberatory furnace geometry is used, then the structure is simple, but the thermal efficiency is low due to limited flame-scraps contact
Solution Approach 1:
By elevating the loading port to a higher vertical position, the patent enables scrap to be deposited in a suspended state directly into the flame path. This dimensional change maximizes the surface area of scrap exposed to the flame and intensifies heat exchange, thereby improving thermal efficiency without fundamentally altering the furnace's basic structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent positions the scrap in the optimal location (suspended above the flame) before the melting process begins. By loading scrap directly into the flame path from the elevated port, the material is preliminarily positioned to maximize thermal contact, ensuring efficient energy utilization from the start of the heating process.
3Productivity
If conventional reverberatory furnace is used, then the loading door opening time is long, but the structure remains simple
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves the loading operation to a higher vertical dimension, allowing scrap to be deposited from above through the elevated loading port. This eliminates the need for complex side-loading mechanisms and reduces the time the loading door must remain open, as material can be quickly dropped vertically into the furnace without manual manipulation or complex positioning systems.
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 apparatus enables faster loading, increased energy efficiency, and reduced melting times by allowing a greater quantity of scrap to be exposed to the flame, creating safer working conditions for operators and optimizing heat exchange, while minimizing the number of loading operations.
Implementation Method 1
Such furnaces are provided with one or two burners 8 on a head 2
Implementation Method 2
burners 8 on a head 2... which allows the insertion... of scraps or other charge material in a quantity substantially greater than the one allowed by conventional reverberatory furnaces
Implementation Method 3
The whole furnace body 1, which is constituted by an outer structure 16 made of welded steel and by the inner refractory lining 17, can tilt about its own longitudinal axis 1a
Implementation Method 4
inner refractory lining 17
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
An apparatus for melting and refining impure nonferrous metals, particularly scraps of copper and/or impure copper originating from the processing of minerals comprising a tiltable reverberatory furnace (32) with a furnace body (34) that has a base with a rectangular plan shape and is provided with two mutually opposite heads (37, 38), which are mutually connected by a bottom wall (39), by an upper wall or ceiling (40) and by two side walls (41, 42), the furnace being provided with means (45) for the tilting of the furnace body (34) about an axis (34a) which is substantially horizontal and perpendicular to the heads (37, 38); the furnace has, in a central region of the upper wall (40), a portion (50) that protrudes upwardly from the remaining portion of the upper wall (40) and is delimited in an upper region by a flying buttress-like wall (51) and laterally by two mutually opposite side walls (52, 53), the portion (50) having, on the side that faces the flying buttress-like wall (51), a loading port (54), which is closed by a door (55) movable to open and close the loading port (54).