This invention relates generally to apparatus and methods for constructing and installing bricks, such as refractory bricks, in frames, staves and/or coolers in blast furnaces or other metallurgical furnaces. Related fields include systems and methods for cooling blast furnaces and other metallurgical furnaces. Related fields include cooling plates and cooling staves.
Conventional designs and constructions for cooling refractory bricks in blast furnaces and other metallurgical furnaces include cooling staves. Conventional copper cooling staves are generally planar, rectangularly shaped and arranged within a furnace substantially parallel or as parallel as possible, given the shapes of the staves and/or the interior of the furnace, to the metal shell of the furnace. The cooling staves typically cover a high percentage of the inner surface of the metal shell of the furnace. Refractory lining, such as refractory bricks, may be disposed in, on or around the surface of the stave, such as, for example, bricks disposed within slots or channels defined by the stave. Staves also have cavities that provide passages or house internal piping. Such passages or piping are connected to one or more external pipes that extend from the furnace shell side of the stave and penetrate the metal shell of the furnace. Coolant, such as, for example, water at an elevated pressure is pumped through the pipes and passages in order to cool the stave. The cooled stave thus cools the refractory bricks disposed within slots or channels defined by the stave.
Current stave or cooling panel brick designs typically are installed in grooves or channels in the cooler before installing the cooling stave/panel in the furnace. Further, many conventional refractory bricks are designed to be installed in a flat stave or cooler. When using flat or curved staves/coolers with pre-installed bricks, the staves are installed in the furnace and have a ram gap in between each pair of adjacent staves to allow for construction deviation. These ram gaps are then filled with refractory material to close the gap between the stave/brick constructions on the sides of the gap. This refractory filled ram gap typically is a weak point in a furnace lining comprising conventional stave/brick constructions. During furnace operation, the ram gap often erodes prematurely and furnace gases track between the staves. Moreover, such conventional stave/brick constructions leave brick edges protruding into the furnace which are exposed to matter and other debris falling through the furnace. Such protruding brick edges tend to wear out more frequently than non-protruding edges, leading to broken or crumbled bricks that may fall through the furnace causing further damage to the furnace lining. Such broken bricks also expose the stave thereby causing it to be damaged or worn out prematurely.
Current stave or cooling panel bricks are typically either installed in straight grooves employed as the main method of attachment to keep the bricks in the cooler or tapered to force bricks which are not locked in grooves in the stave to push against the cooler when the bricks are heated during furnace operation.
Also, in recent years, it has been a common practice to install staves without refractory in front of them and try to form a skull layer to protect and insulate the stave in a blast furnace. This process related skull is generated and lost repeatedly in service and actually changes furnace performance. Skulls can only be formed in the cohesive zones of the furnace. Therefore, this skull approach is not effective if the cohesive zone is incorrectly determined. Additionally, the cohesive zone of the furnace changes depending on charge material and the skull adhesion is lost in sections of the furnace at different times. This results in non-uniform temperatures throughout the staves and furnace. However, an improved brick refractory lining protects the stave regardless of adhesion and would be preferable to such skull insulating process, even through in some cases it may still be desirable to form the skull to protect the improved refractory.
Current locked-in brick designs, such as dovetailed bricks in complementary-shaped stave channels, are relatively thin throughout their vertical thickness. Such thin-necked bricks are susceptible to cracking at the thin neck portion thereby creating brick fragments and pieces falling into the furnace which may hit and damage other bricks and staves of the furnace lining.
Many older stave designs which incorporate bricks in front of the stave employ multiple rows or layers of bricks in front of the stave. Such constructions contain joints which further prevent effective cooling of the bricks farthest from the stave.
As listed above, many shortcomings are associated with known stave and refractory brick constructions.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a stave/brick construction in which the refractory bricks may be installed in a flat or curved stave or cooler, before or after the stave cooler is installed in a furnace. Additionally, in the event of a reworking or rebuilding of the stave/brick construction in the furnace, the refractory bricks of the present invention can be replaced or re-installed in-whole or in-part, without removing the stave or cooler from the furnace.
In addition, it would be desirable to provide a stave/brick construction which provides a continuous lining around the interior circumference of the furnace that eliminates ram gaps between the bricks of adjacent staves and thereby increases the integrity and life of the furnace lining.
Further, it would be desirable to provide a stave/brick construction ideal for use in blast furnaces in which no brick edges are exposed or protrude into the furnace to increase the life and integrity of the furnace lining.
In addition, it would be desirable to provide a stave/refractory brick construction in which the refractory bricks can be installed in a stave or cooler that is tilted on an angle with the bricks staying in the grooves in such stave or cooler and in which the bricks may be inserted and/or removed from the front face of the stave before and/or after the stave is installed in the furnace.
Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide a stave/refractory brick construction in which the refractory bricks are doubly locked into the channels in the stave (1) by complementary surfaces of the bricks and stave channels that are engaged by inserting a portion of each brick into a channel or groove in the stave and simultaneously or thereafter rotating each brick on an axis substantially parallel to a plane of the stave and/or (b) such that the bottom of the brick rotates in a direction towards or substantively towards the stave in order to engage such complementary surfaces of the channel and brick in order to secure or lock the brick into the channel chamber and prevent it from moving linearly out of the channel or groove through an opening in the front face of the stave and (2) by oblique or tapered sections of the bricks that expand when heated during furnace operation, and push against the stave or cooler to maintain an effective bond therewith thereby providing highly effective cooling of the bricks, while also holding in place any bricks that might crack or break.
Moreover, it would be desirable to provide a stave/refractory brick construction in which the stave surface temperature is uniform and which allows for more consistent furnace operation with less loss of heat to thereby reduce stresses on the furnace and staves and increase the life of both.
Further yet, it would be desirable to provide a stave/refractory brick construction utilizing bricks having an increased vertical or neck thickness to increase strength and make the bricks less susceptible to cracking while also allowing the bricks to be installed faster, with the additional weight of each brick helping to keep it in place and less susceptible to failure.
Additionally, it would be desirable to provide an improved stave/refractory brick construction having a single layer of bricks in tight contact with the stave to eliminate thermal barriers associated with conventional stave/brick constructions having multiple layers and/or multiple mortar joints.
Further still, it would be desirable to provide an improved stave/refractory brick construction in which the refractory bricks are made of differing shapes and/or materials depending upon the type of furnace and/or the installation location within the furnace.
In addition, it would be desirable to provide an improved frame/brick construction for any application where it would be advantageous to be able to (1) brick, re-brick and/or repair the frame/brick construction after the frame has been installed and/or (2) to employ the double brick locking features of the present invention for elevated temperature applications.
These and other advantages of the invention will be appreciated by reference to the detailed description of the preferred embodiment(s) that follow.
In a first aspect, the present invention comprises a stave/brick construction, comprising: a stave having a plurality of ribs and a plurality of channels, wherein a front face of the stave defines a first opening into each of the channels; and a plurality of bricks wherein each brick is insertable into one of the plurality of channels via its first opening to a position, upon rotation of the brick, partially disposed in the one channel such that one or more portions of the brick at least partially engage one or more surfaces of the one channel and/or of a first rib of the plurality of ribs whereby the brick is locked against removal from the one channel through its first opening via linear movement without first being rotated. Preferably, the stave may define one or more side openings into each of the channels. Also, the one or more portions of the brick comprises a nose at least partially disposed in a first section of the one channel, which is preferably complementary to the nose. In addition, rotation of the brick comprises a bottom of the brick moving in a direction towards the stave.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the stave/brick construction, a first rib surface of the first rib preferably is complementary to a groove defined by a top of the brick and the first rib surface is at least partially disposed in the groove.
In accordance with yet a further aspect of the stave/brick construction, each of the plurality of bricks can be removed from its respective channel via rotation of each brick comprising a bottom of each brick moving in a direction away from the stave.
In yet a further aspect of the stave/brick construction, the stave is preferably either substantially flat or curved with respect to one or both of a horizontal axis and a vertical axis of the stave.
In yet an additional aspect of the stave/brick construction, the stave houses a plurality of pipes.
In yet a further aspect of the stave/brick construction, preferably the plurality of bricks at least partially disposed in the plurality of channels form a plurality of stacked, substantially horizontal rows of bricks protruding from the front face of the stave, where the plurality of bricks comprise exposed faces that preferably define a flat surface or uneven surface.
In accordance with yet a further aspect of the stave/brick construction, one of the bricks cannot be pulled and/or rotated out of the first opening of its respective channel when another brick is disposed in the row above and partially or completely covers the one brick.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, the stave/brick construction comprises a plurality of staves standing side-by-side with gaps between adjacent staves; wherein each stave has a plurality of ribs, a plurality of channels, and a plurality of substantially horizontal rows of bricks disposed in the plurality of channels. Preferably, the plurality of substantially horizontal rows of bricks disposed in the plurality of channels covers, in-whole or in-part, the gaps between adjacent staves. Also, the staves stand substantially vertically or at an angle other than about 90 degrees.
In yet a further aspect of the stave/brick construction, each of the plurality of bricks further defines a seat wherein the seat is at least partially disposed in a second section of the one channel and preferably the second section is complementary to the seat.
In yet an additional aspect of the stave/brick construction, each of the plurality of bricks comprises an oblique top section and an oblique bottom section, wherein each of the oblique top and bottom sections protrude from the face of the stave and preferably the oblique top and bottom sections of each brick are substantially parallel to each other.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the stave/brick construction of the present invention, the plurality of bricks at least partially disposed in the plurality of channels form a plurality of stacked, substantially horizontal rows of bricks protruding from the front face of the stave; and wherein the oblique top section of one brick is disposed substantially near, adjacent to, in partial contact with or in complete contact with the oblique bottom section of another brick immediately above the one brick.
In yet an additional aspect, the stave/brick construction of the present invention further comprises means for operatively connecting a thermocouple to the stave.
In another aspect, the present invention comprises a frame/brick construction, comprising: a frame having a plurality of ribs and a plurality of channels, wherein a front face of the frame defines a first opening into each of the channels; and a plurality of bricks wherein each brick is insertable into one of the plurality of channels via its first opening to a position, upon rotation of the brick, partially disposed in the one channel such that one or more portions of the brick at least partially engage one or more surfaces of the one channel and/or of a first rib of the plurality of ribs whereby the brick is locked against removal from the one channel through its first opening via linear movement without first being rotated. Preferably, the frame may define one or more side openings into each of the channels. Also, the one or more portions of the brick comprises a nose at least partially disposed in a first section of the one channel, which is preferably complementary to the nose. In addition, rotation of the brick comprises a bottom of the brick moving in a direction towards the frame.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the frame/brick construction, a first rib surface of the first rib preferably is complementary to a groove defined by a top of the brick and the first rib surface is at least partially disposed in the groove.
In accordance with yet a further aspect of the frame/brick construction, each of the plurality of bricks can be removed from its respective channel via rotation of each brick comprising a bottom of each brick moving in a direction away from the frame.
In yet a further aspect of the frame/brick construction, the frame is preferably either substantially flat or curved with respect to one or both of a horizontal axis and a vertical axis of the frame.
In yet a further aspect of the frame/brick construction, preferably the plurality of bricks at least partially disposed in the plurality of channels form a plurality of stacked, substantially horizontal rows of bricks protruding from the front face of the frame, where the plurality of bricks comprise exposed faces that preferably define a flat surface or uneven surface.
In accordance with yet a further aspect of the frame/brick construction, one of the bricks cannot be pulled and/or rotated out of the first opening of its respective channel when another brick is disposed in the row above and partially or completely covers the one brick.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, the frame/brick construction comprises a plurality of frames standing side-by-side with gaps between adjacent frames; wherein each frame has a plurality of ribs, a plurality of channels, and a plurality of substantially horizontal rows of bricks disposed in the plurality of channels. Preferably, the plurality of substantially horizontal rows of bricks disposed in the plurality of channels covers, in-whole or in-part, the gaps between adjacent frames. Also, the frames stand substantially vertically or at an angle other than about 90 degrees.
In yet a further aspect of the frame/brick construction, each of the plurality of bricks further defines a seat wherein the seat is at least partially disposed in a second section of the one channel and preferably the second section is complementary to the seat.
In yet an additional aspect of the frame/brick construction, each of the plurality of bricks comprises an oblique top section and an oblique bottom section, wherein each of the oblique top and bottom sections protrude from the face of the frame and preferably the oblique top and bottom sections of each brick are substantially parallel to each other.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the frame/brick construction of the present invention, the plurality of bricks at least partially disposed in the plurality of channels form a plurality of stacked, substantially horizontal rows of bricks protruding from the front face of the frame; and wherein the oblique top section of one brick is disposed substantially near, adjacent to, in partial contact with or in complete contact with the oblique bottom section of another brick immediately above the one brick.
In yet another aspect, the present invention comprises a method for assembling a stave/brick construction comprising: providing a stave in a standing position, wherein the stave has a plurality of ribs and a plurality of channels, wherein a front face of the stave defines a first opening into each of the channels; and inserting a plurality of bricks into each channel via its first opening so that a first portion of each brick enters its respective channel via its first opening; and rotating each brick so that it is partially disposed in its respective channel with its first portion at least partially engaged with one or more surfaces of its respective channel and/or of a first rib of the plurality of stave ribs whereby the brick is locked against linear movement out of the one channel through its first opening. Preferably, after inserting, the first portion of each brick is at least partially disposed in a first section of its respective channel, and the rotating of each brick comprises a bottom of the brick moving in a direction towards the stave.
In accordance with yet another aspect, the method for assembling a stave/brick construction of the present invention further comprises: removing one or more of the plurality of bricks from their respective channels via rotation of the one or more bricks comprising a bottom of each brick moving in a direction away from the stave.
In yet another aspect, the present invention comprises a brick for a stave/brick construction, comprising: a top section defining a nose contiguous with a locking side of the brick and an upper oblique section contiguous with a first face of the brick, wherein the locking side comprises the nose, a second face, a seat and a lower concave section; and a bottom defining a lower oblique section contiguous with the first face of the brick. Preferably, brick may further comprise a groove defined by the top section disposed across a width of the brick.
In accordance with yet another aspect, the brick for a stave/brick construction of the present invention, the second face extends from the nose to the seat and is opposite to the first face. Also, preferably, a height of the second face is equal to or greater than about two times a depth of the brick measured from the second face to a bottom of the groove.
In accordance with yet a further aspect of the brick for a stave/brick construction of the present invention, preferably one or both of the nose and seat may be arcuate, polygonal or angular. Also, one or both of the first and second faces of the brick preferably are substantially flat.
In yet another aspect, the present invention comprises a stave/brick construction, comprising: a stave having a plurality of ribs and a plurality of channels, wherein a front face of the stave defines a first opening into each of the channels and wherein the plurality of ribs comprises one or more short ribs each of which is shorter than one or more adjacent long ribs, wherein each short rib and at least one adjacent long rib define, at least in part, a void such that the stave defines a plurality of voids; and a plurality of bricks wherein each brick is insertable into one of the plurality of voids in a direction substantially perpendicular to the front face to a first position from which it can be slid to a second position within one of the plurality of channels
Many other variations are possible with the present invention, and those and other teachings, variations, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the description and figures of the invention.
For the present disclosure to be easily understood and readily practiced, the present disclosure will now be described for purposes of illustration and not limitation in connection with the following figures, wherein:
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying examples and figures that form a part hereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the inventive subject matter may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice them, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the inventive subject matter. Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred to, individually and/or collectively, herein by the term “invention” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single invention or inventive concept if more than one is in fact disclosed.
The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limited sense, and the scope of the inventive subject matter is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
As further illustrated in
Preferred embodiments of a stave/refractory brick construction 28 of the present invention is shown in
Each stave 30 preferably may be curved about its horizontal axis and/or about its vertical axis to match the internal profile of the furnace or area in which they will be used. Each stave 30 preferably comprises a plurality of stave ribs 32 and a stave socle 33 to support stave 30 in a standing position which may be a fully upright 90 degrees as shown, or a tilted or slanted position (not shown). Each stave rib 32 preferably defines a generally arcuate top rib section 34 and a generally arcuate bottom rib section 35. Stave 30 preferably defines a plurality stave channels 37 between each successive pair of stave ribs 32. Preferably, each stave channel 37 is generally “C-shaped” or “U-shaped” and includes a generally planar stave channel wall 38, although stave channel wall 38 may also be curved or contoured along its vertical and/or horizontal axes, toothed, etc., to be complementary with the front face 31 of brick 18 if such front face 31 has a shape other than the planar shape depicted herein, which may depend upon the application. Each stave channel 37 also preferably includes a generally arcuate upper channel section 39 and a generally arcuate lower channel section 40, all as defined by stave 30 and a successive pair of stave ribs 32. The shapes, geometries and/or cross-sections of one or more of the stave ribs 32, top rib sections 34, bottom rib sections 35, stave channels 37, stave channel walls 38, upper channel sections 39 and lower channel sections 40, preferably may be modified or take other forms such as being contoured, angular, rectilinear, polygonal, geared, toothed, symmetrical, asymmetrical or irregular instead the shapes of the preferred embodiments thereof as shown in the drawings hereof without departing from the scope of the invention hereof.
As shown in
As also shown in
Another problem associated with the conventional stave/brick constructions 58 having pre-installed bricks 54, as shown in
As also shown in
While the preferred embodiment of a stave/refractory brick construction 28 of the present invention shown in
The view of stave/brick construction 59 of the present invention in
The stave/brick construction 59 may preferably employ a single brick design (not shown) or the alternating shallow and deep bricks 68 and 69, respectively, as shown in
The stave/brick constructions of the present invention preferably also may be assembled initially by setting the bricks in a form and casting the stave around the bricks.
In the foregoing Detailed Description, various features are grouped together in a single embodiment to streamline the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments of the invention require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.
This application claims the benefit of (1) provisional patent application U.S. Ser. No. 61/223,745 filed Jul. 8, 2009, by the present inventor, which is incorporated by reference herein and (2) provisional patent application U.S. Ser. No. 61/231,477 filed Aug. 5, 2009, by the present inventor, which is incorporated by reference herein.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/US10/41414 | 7/8/2010 | WO | 00 | 12/23/2011 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61223745 | Jul 2009 | US | |
61223745 | Jul 2009 | US |