Double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces

Abstract

A double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces is disclosed. The tuyere includes a body unit, a spiral unit and a cover unit, with a body chamber having a body nose passage and a body main passage defined in the body unit, and a nose chamber having first, second, third and fourth spiral passages defined in both the spiral unit and the cover unit. The tuyere further includes a tunnel, which is formed in the spiral unit and the cover unit and connects a cooling water inlet to the first spiral passage. In the tuyere, a reverse-turning part, at which the flowing direction of cooling water is reversed at an angle of 180°, is eliminated from a cooling passage defined in the nose of the tuyere. Thus, cooling water can circulate in a single direction in the tuyere, resulting in efficient circulation of cooling water, reducing pressure loss and enabling cooling water to reach the nose of the tuyere, thereby providing maximum cooling performance.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1( a) and FIG. 1(b) are views illustrating a conventional double chamber spiral tuyere for blast furnaces, in which FIG. 1(a) is a perspective view, and FIG. 1(b) is a view from the direction x of FIG. 1(a);

FIG. 2( a) and FIG. 2(b) are views illustrating cooling passages defined in the conventional double chamber spiral tuyere for blast furnaces, in which FIG. 2(a) is a sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 1(b), and FIG. 2(b) is a development view taken along line B-B of FIG. 1(b);

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1(b), but illustrates a double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces according to the present invention; and

FIG. 4( a) and FIG. 4(b) are views illustrating cooling passages defined in the double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces according to the present invention, in which FIG. 4(a) is a sectional view taken along line C-C of FIG. 3, and FIG. 4(b) is a development view taken along line D-D of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Herein below, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1(b), but illustrates a double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces according to the present invention. FIG. 4(a) and FIG. 4(b) are views illustrating cooling passages defined in the double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces according to the present invention, in which FIG. 4(a) is a sectional view taken along line C-C of FIG. 3, and FIG. 4(b) is a development view taken along line D-D of FIG. 3.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in the same manner as that described for a conventional double chamber spiral tuyere for blast furnaces, the double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces according to the present invention comprises a nose chamber comprising a first spiral passage 210, a second spiral passage 220, a third spiral passage 230 and a fourth spiral passage 240, and a body chamber comprising a body nose passage 110 and a body main passage 120.

In the double chamber single directional spiral tuyere, a body unit 100, a spiral unit 200 and a cover unit 300 may be separately manufactured prior to being assembled together into a single body. Alternatively, the body unit 100, the spiral unit 200 and the cover unit 300 may be cast into an integrated structure.

Because the tuyere is typically used at high temperature and high pressure operational atmosphere conditions and must have high thermal conductivity, the tuyere is preferably made of at least 99.5% pure copper.

Furthermore, in a conventional manner, the tuyere may be provided with a hard facing 400 on a nose surface thereof.

The hard facing 400 is preferably made of a nickel-chrome alloy and has the same function as that described for the prior art.

As shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), the tuyere of the present invention is configured to directly supply cooling water from a nose inlet 3 to the first spiral passage 210 of the nose chamber through a water passage, such as a tunnel 250.

Therefore, cooling water, having been supplied into the nose chamber, can flow through a passage in the order of the first spiral passage 210→the second spiral passage 220→the third spiral passage 230→the fourth spiral passage 240. Therefore, when viewing a hot blast outlet nozzle 500 of the tuyere from the right to the left in the drawings, the cooling water does not flow in opposite directions. Thus, unlike the conventional tuyere, the tuyere of the present invention is free from any reverse-turning part at which the flowing direction of the cooling water is reversed at an angle of 180°.

In the nose chamber, cooling water, which has been supplied into the nose chamber through the nose inlet 3, {circle around (a)}→{circle around (b)}→{circle around (c)}→{circle around (d)}→{circle around (e)}→{circle around (f)}→{circle around (g)}→{circle around (h)} circulates along the spiral passages in the sequence direction, and is discharged from the tuyere through the nose outlet 4.

Furthermore, unlike the conventional double chamber spiral tuyere, the body nose passage 110 of the body chamber in the double chamber single directional spiral tuyere according to the present invention has a minimized sectional area, and is configured to have the same circular passage as that of the spiral unit 200, thus allowing high speed circular flow of cooling water in the body chamber. Therefore, the tuyere of the present invention quickly improves the cooling performance in the nose of the body unit 100.

In the body chamber, cooling water, which has been supplied into the body chamber through a body inlet 1, circulates in the sequence and is discharged from the tuyere through a body outlet 2.

During operation of the tuyere according to the present invention, nose chamber cooling water starts flowing at the first spiral passage 210 due to the tunnel 250. Thus, although cooling water flows through the junction at which the spiral unit 200 is in contact with the cover unit 300, the cooling water supply rate for the first spiral passage 210, which bears the highest thermal load and requires high cooling performance, can be maintained at 100%.

Therefore, the double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces of the present invention has excellent cooling performance in comparison with the conventional tuyere, which causes a reduction in the cooling performance due to the reduction of a supply rate of cooling water for the first spiral passage 210.

Furthermore, unlike the conventional tuyere, the tuyere of the present invention is free from pressure loss caused by the reversal of the flowing direction of cooling water at an angle of 180°. Thus, the nose cooling water can more efficiently flow because the cooling water in the spiral unit 200 circulates in a single direction.

In the tuyere according to the present invention, the body nose chamber 110 has a reduced sectional area and allows high speed circular flow of cooling water in the same manner as does the spiral unit 200, therefore the cooling performance in the nose of the body unit 100 of the tuyere is improved in comparison with the conventional tuyere.

As described above, the present invention provides a double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces, in which a reverse-turning part, at which the flowing direction of cooling water is reversed at an angle of 180°, is eliminated from a cooling passage defined in the nose of the tuyere. Thus, cooling water can circulate in a single direction in the tuyere, resulting in efficient circulation of the cooling water. The tuyere also reduces pressure loss and causes cooling water to reach the nose of the tuyere, thereby providing maximum cooling performance.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

1. A double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces, comprising a body unit, a spiral unit and a cover unit, with a body chamber comprising a body nose passage and a body main passage defined in the body unit, and a nose chamber comprising a first spiral passage, a second spiral passage, a third spiral passage and a fourth spiral passage defined in both the spiral unit and the cover unit, further comprising: a tunnel formed in the spiral unit and the cover unit and connecting a cooling water inlet to the first spiral passage.

2. The double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces as claimed in claim 1, wherein the nose of the body chamber is configured as circular passages, thus allowing high speed circular flow of cooling water.

3. The double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a hard facing provided on a nose surface of the cover unit.

4. The double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body unit, the spiral unit and the cover unit are made of least 99.5% pure copper.

5. The double chamber single directional spiral tuyere for blast furnaces as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body unit, the spiral unit and the cover unit are separately manufactured and assembled together into a single body, or are cast as an integrated structure.