US3502315A

US3502315A - Furnace equipment

Info

Publication number: US3502315A
Application number: US688820A
Authority: US
Inventors: Edward J Ostrowski
Original assignee: National Steel Corp
Current assignee: National Steel Corp
Priority date: 1967-12-07
Filing date: 1967-12-07
Publication date: 1970-03-24
Anticipated expiration: 1987-03-24

Description

March 24, 1970 os'rfiows l 3,502,315

FURNACE EQUIPMENT Filed Dec. 7, 1967 FIGS INVENTOR EDWARD J. OSTROIISKI ATTORNEY United States Patent O US. Cl. 266-41 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Tuyeres and the like articles include a baffie arrangement which splits a stream of cooling water into two portions and conducts one portion to the hot end of a cooling chamber in the article. The other portion passes into the back of the cooling chamber. The one portion is formed into components which are directed in opposite directions into the cooling chamber and improve heat exchange in the hottest region of the chamber. If the hot end of the article is cut away by material in the furnace, the water entering the back of the chamber still effects partial cooling. Orientation of the article with outlet at 12 oclock assures complete filling of the cooling chamber. The paths of the cooling fluid in the chamber are free of obstructions, to avoid formation of spaces void of cooling fluid in the chamber.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to furnace equipment, and more particularly to tuyeres, monkeys and like apparatus for furnaces.

The service life of a tuyere, monkey or like article is dependent upon proper water cooling. Such an article usually comprises a body of high thermal conductivity having an annular cooling chamber. The chamber surrounds a passage for conducting fluids to or from a furnace interior. conventionally, spaced water inlet and outlet openings communicating with the chamber are formed in the body at the back, i.e., the side which faces away from the furnace interior. With this arrangement, much of the water passes more or less directly from the inlet to the outlet. This flow pattern provides excellent cooling at the back of the body, but water in the chamber at the front of the body, i.e., the hot end, is relatively stagnant. Heat exchange is poorest where the need for maximum heat transfer is greatest.

To overcome this problem, the prior art has devised various directional bafile arrangements. It has been proposed to provide baffles in the cooling chamber to direct incoming water to the front of the body, from which the cooling fluid flows to the back for discharge. This improves heat exchange, but is disadvantageous because all cooling fluid is dumped into the furnace without cooling either the back or front of the body when the front of the body is cut away by material in the furnace.

Other previous proposals have provided a multiplicity of interleaved bafiles in the cooling chamber to guide the coolant in a sinusoidal flow path circumferentially around the body. These tortuous-path, multipass tuyeres have the disadvantage that spaces void of cooling fluid appear along the passageways and on the surfaces of the baflles, so that the chamber is not completely filled. Heat exchange across the void spaces between the body and the cooling fluid is very poor.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is the provision of structure for tuyeres and like articles which obtain improved heat exchange, particularly in the hottest region of the article.

Another object of the invention is the provision of improved structure for tuyeres and like articles which permits partial cooling even though the front of the article is cut away.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following detailed description which, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, describes a preferred embodiment of the invention for purposes of illustration only. For definition of the scope of the invention, references will be made to the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 4 is a view on section line 44 of FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is an isometric, cross-sectional view of the tuyere of FIGURE 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIGURES 1 and 2, a tuyere generally indicated at 10 comprises a body 12 having a generally circular crosssectional configuration. Body 12 is made from copper or other material of high thermal conductivity, and has a back end portion generally indicated at 14 and a front end portion generally indicated at 16. Continuous surfaces 18 of body 12 form an elongated passage 20 for conducting a hot blast to the interior of a blast furnace.

A generally toroidal cooling chamber 22, surrounding passage 20, is formed in body 12. Generally cylindrical,

internal surfaces

21, 23 of body 12 form radially inner and outer walls of the chamber. Annular chamber 22 includes a back end portion generally indicated at 24 and a front end portion generally indicated at 26. Annular back and

nose walls

28, 30, respectively, close the end portions of chamber 22. The lower portion of nose wall 30 is recessed for minimum exposure to cutting by material in the furnace. Water inlet and

outlet Openings

32, 34, respectively, are formed in back wall 28 with outlet 34 spaced from inlet 32 a distance of about The inlet and outlet Openings are threaded for connection to supply and discharge conduits (not shown).

Opposed, generally parallel baflle members 36, 38 (see also FIGURES 3, 4, 5) extend longitudinally relative to passageway 20 and form sidewalls of a passageway 40. B-aflle 36 has an edge 42 extending across inlet 32, and baffle 38 is in sealed relationship with back wall 24 closely adjacent one side of inlet 32. Edge 42 of baflle 36 splits an inlet stream into major and minor portions. The major portion flows through passageway 40 to nose end portion 26 of chamber 22. The minor portion flows into back end portion 24 of chamber 22 through a passageway 44 (FIGURE 2) formed by baifle 36 and walls of chamber 22. Edge 42 of baflle 36 is spaced longitudinally from back wall 24, but is close to the back wall to divide the incoming stream.

Baflles

36, 38 extend into nose end portion 26 of chamber 22 and have

terminal edges

46, 48 generally equidistantly spaced from nose end wall 30 of body 12.

Edges

46, 48 define sides of a discharge opening 50 in passageway 40 (FIGURE Discharge opening 50 is opposile a portion (generally indicated at 52) of nose wall 30. The stream of fluid emerging from discharge opening 50 is projected against wall portion 52, and converted into two oppositely directed components which pass into nose end portion 26 of chamber 22. In effect, the stream is shattered or divided upon striking wall portion 52, and the confining walls of the chamber form two substreams from the divided stream and direct the substreams between the ends of the baflles and wall portion 52 in opposite directions transverse to blast passage 20.

In use, tuyere is installed in an iron blast furnace in the orientation illustrated in FIGURE 1. This orientation places outlet 34 at a 12 oclock position, and is advantageous in assuring complete filling of the tuyere. The orientation with outlet 34 at 12 oclock places inlet 32 at 7:30 oclock, since the inlet is spaced about 135 from the outlet in the illustrated embodiment. However, a preferred range for the spacing between inlet and outlet is from about 135 to about 180.

A stream of water under pressure is passed through inlet 32 and split by edge 42 of baffle 36. Most of the cooling water, preferably about two-thirds, flows in a stream through passageway. 40 This stream emerges through opening 50 and is converted into two components which are directed in opposite directions as shown by directional arrows 54, 56 into chamber 22. The remaining fraction of the inlet stream passes through passageway 44 as shown by directional arrow 58. All three streams are confined by the walls of chamber 22 in generally spiral paths which are free of obstructions and converge on outlet 34 for discharge of the cooling fluid from the chamber.

Apparatus according to the invention is highly advantageous. Cooling fluid is directed to the front of the cooling chamber to provide more effective heat exchange in the region where cooling is most needed. This has been achieved without the disadvantage of discharging all water into the furnace when the front of the body fails. Even when the front wall is cut, the article receives sufiicient cooling by the stream entering the back of the cooling chamber to prevent a hazardous condition from developing before the article can be replaced. Since the flow paths of the cooling fluid are not sinusoidal, but rather, the fluid flows through an open chamber free of obstructions after leaving the passageways formed by

baffles

36, 38, the disadvantages of multipass tuyeres in establishing spaces void of cooling fluid along interleaved baflies and passageways are avoided. The inventive construction assures complete filling of the cooling chamber. Further, splitting of the stream in articles according to the invention generates a relatively turbulent flow condition which minimizes sediment deposition.

Although the invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment, modifications of that embodiment can be made without departing from the principles of the invention. Such modifications are within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Furnace apparatus, comprising:

a body having opposite first and second end portions,

means forming a passage extending through the body from the first end portion to the second end portion,

means forming a chamber in the body, the chamber having a first end portion at the first end portion of the body and a second end portion at the second end portion of the body,

means forming a fluid inlet opening in the body at the first end portion of the chamber,

means forming a first passageway communicating with the fluid inlet opening for conducting a first stream of cooling fluid from the fluid inlet opening to the second end portion of the chamber,

means forming a second passageway communicating with the fluid inlet opening for conducting a second stream of cooling fluid from the fluid inlet opening into the first end portion of the chamber,

converting means for converting the first stream into components passing in opposite directions transverse to the passage and into the second end portion of the chamber, and

outlet means for discharging cooling fluid from the 2. The apparatus of claim 1,

chamber.

the first passageway being located in the chamber and extending longitudinally relative to the passage.

3. The apparatus of claim 2,

the means forming the first passageway including opposed first and second baflle members, and

the first baflle member having an edge extending across the fluid inlet opening.

4. The apparatus of claim 3,

the edge of the first baflle member comprising means for splitting a fluid inlet stream into a major portion comprising said first stream, and a minor portion comprising said second stream.

5. The apparatus of claim 3,

the body having an end wall closing the first end portion of the chamber,

the fluid inlet opening being formed in the end wall,

the edge of the first baflle member being spaced from the end wall.

6. The apparatus of claim 3,

the second baffle member being in sealed relationship with the body closely adjacent one side of the fluid inlet opening.

7. The apparatus of claim 3,

the body having a first end wall closing the first end portion of the chamber and a second end wall closing the second end portion of the chamber,

the first and second baffie members having terminal portions in the second end portion of the chamber, and

the terminal portions of the bafiles being spaced from the second end wall and defining a discharge opening in the first passageway.

8. The apparatus of claim 7,

the converting means including means for dividing the first stream into first and second components and directing the components in opposite directions transverse to the passage between the terminal portions of the balfie members and the second end Wall into the second end portion of the chamber.

9. The apparatus of claim 7,

the converting means including a portion of the second end wall opposite the discharge opening.

.10. The apparatus of claim 2,

the body having a generally circular cross-sectional configuration and an annular end wall closing the first end portion of the chamber,

the chamber surrounding the passage,

the fluid inlet opening being formed in the end wall,

and

the outlet means comprising means forming an outlet opening in the end wall,

the outlet opening being spaced from the inlet opening a distance of from about to about 11. The apparatus of claim 1,

5 6 the means forming the chamber including means for 2,501,265 3/1950 Diaz 266-41 confining the cooling fluid in paths toward the out- 2,705,000 3/1955 Kinney 122-66 let means, 3,052,219 8/1962 Haack 266-41 X the chamber being free of obstructions in the paths of 3,234,919 2/1966 Troy 122-6.6

the cooling fluid. 5

J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner References Cited J. S. BROWN, Assistant Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,772,864 8/1930 Haven 1226.6

1,962,593 6/1934 Henry 266-41 X 10 122-6.6

Patent: No. Dated M rch 24,

Inventor(s) Edward J. Ostrowski It is certified that error appears in the above1dentif1ed patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 4, line 19, after "the" insert chamber Column 4, line 21, cancel chamber SIGNED AM SEALED sEP 151910 (SEAL) Am man-M v I! In um m 0mm Oomiaaiom ofratontu