MM 426-Equipment and Process Design Lab

Electro-Slag Remelting(ESR) Equipment

Design
Final Report
Piyush Divyankar-12D110009
Pratik Pawde-12D110017
March 14, 2016

Introduction

Electroslag remelting (ESR), also known as electro-flux remelting, is a process of remelting and refining steel and other alloys for mission-critical applications in aircraft, thermal power stations, nuclear power plants, military
technology, et al
Electro-slag remelting is used to manufacture high quality ingots. ESR
uses a consumable electrode made of cast metal. AC current is passed
through the electrode to produce electrical arcing and this melts the metal.
The molten metal is collected in a water cooled mold. Electrode is gradually
lifted and as the metal melts it forms an ingot in shape of the mold. The
arc is always submerged in slag. This prevents any contamination from atmosphere and it also absorbs already present impurities from the melt. The
overall yield of this process is low. The costs of production is high, and
products from this operations cant be used casually.
This report describes the design principles underlying an ESR plant.

Problem Description

An ESR plant is to be designed that can produce cylindrical ingots of following specification.
diameter range: 130-300mm
length: 1500mm
Typical alloys to be produced
High speed steel (High Segregation)
Hot die steel (High Segregation)
Stainless Steel (Low Segregation)
High quality of the product is the primary design criterion. All facilities
including auxiliaries must be optimized for maximum production.

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3.1

Machine Specifications
Mechanical aspects

An ESR machine requires some elaborate mechanical systems. The electrode

weight can be from few hundred kilograms to a ton. The mechanical durability of the machine is very important design constraint. The electrode of is
to be pulled up, this requires a linear drive. In this design we have achieved
it using ball screw drive. Thcoppee motor is used to drive this.
Water supply system is also an integral part of the ESR design. Without
water cooling ingot cant be manufactured. The water cooled mold requires
a water supply and disposal system. This is accomplished using electrical
water pumps.
Mold is made using copper. Copper is a good conductor of heat this
means that we have to spend less on the cooling system. High thermal
conductivity also means fast cooling of the ingot surface. The mold thickness
are calculated based on thermal heat transfer under some ideal conditions.

3.2

Mold Design

The copper mold used has a melting point of 1085 degrees C. The melt is at
about 1500o C. The mold is prevented from melting by cooling the mold with
running water. The mold has to dissipate heat. Assuming a realistic amount
to be 2.5MW/m2 .
T
(1)
Q = 2.5 106 = k
x
The slag temperature is 1900o C. And we dont want the temperature inside
the pipe to reach 250o C. The temperature difference would be around T =
170o C. This gives us the thickness of the mold
x = 25.5mm
.
The hydraulic radius is calculated as
Hydraullic Radius=

Area
P erimeter

. Using this for the water jacket we observe that deq = 2x = 51mm
Nu =

hdeq
= 0.023Re0.8
P r1/3
d
Kw

(2)

v deq

(3)

Red =

hT = 2.5 106
taking temperature drop at surface to be 50degC. We get h = 50000W/m2 K.
Using this we calculate deq , by putting this in equation 2 and eliminating
using equation 3. We get deq as
0.6 0.023 2.291/3 Re0d .8
deq =
50000
Here we take Prandtl number(Pr) 2.29 based on the value of h.
Melting rate of tool steel = 0.2kg/mm of perimeter
Therefore for our scenario melt rate = 200kg/hr

(4)

The energy needed form melting =1.2kW.hr/kg

Therefore total energy =240kW
Efficiency of the operation is taken to be 0.4
0.4 240 = mC
p T

(5)

Using this we calculate the mass flow rate of water as A

v = 1.142kg/s.
Using this flow rate we can calculate the reynolds number and use it to
calculate deq . This turns out to be =0.3mm. This means that for any pipe
diameter larger than this we can have a feasible design. Do we would want
to install pipes that are commonly available in market. A 15mm pipe would
be ideal for our cooling needs.
For a 15 mm pipe the mass flow can be reduced as the amount of water
is increasing. We set mass flow rate at 20kg/s. Mass flow rate can be used
to calculate velocity=6.75m/s
Using this we calculate the power of the pump and the pressure drop.
4L
P
= 0.5v 2
f

deq

(6)

This gives Pressure difference of 22781 Pa. Here friction factor is taken as
0.015 for highly turbulent flow, also length of the mold is taken as 0.5m .
Work is given by
P
v2
+ g(z2 z1 ) +
(7)
Ws =
2

This gives work as 22808J/kg. m

= 20kg/s. So power is 456kW. Assuming
all our inconsistencies assuming a factor of safety of two the pump capacity
should be at least 1000kW. The flow metering can be done using a flowmeter.
Perferably one with a small pressure drop in our range of measurement. The
used water is at an higher temperature it is collected in a tank where it is
cooled. This tank is connected to the reservoir.

3.3
3.3.1

Furnace Mechanical System

Support Mast

The mast supports the entire weight of the electrode, electrode gripping
system and the platform that it is mounted on. To have smooth operation
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Figure 1: Mold design

as well as long life we should use two masts to support the system. This
will prevent buckling that might occur in single mast systems over time. To
produce a 130mm ingot the electrode must be a little less is diameter so
that it can be accommodated in the mold. We take electrode diameter to be
90mm. Using this we calculate the height if the ingot. This turns out to be
3.4 meters. Including all other machinery that is installed the height of the
mast must be atleast 4 meters. For this the height of the building must be
at least 5 meters.
3.3.2

Drive

Two drives are needed in our ESR apparatus. One drive for electrode movement and another for mold movement. The heaviest electrode that our machine needs to lift is about 850kg(a little more than the heaviest ingot that
is produced). We have a desired production rate i.e the rate of movement of
mold. This is taken to be about 50mm/min. This is used to estimate motor
speed and such. We use a standard screw of 5TPI (Turns per inch). This
gives rotation rate of 10 RPM. This is the rotation of the screw. This motion
is transfer to screw using a motor.
The motor is a key element of the system. The standard DC motor
available in market is at 1500 RPM. To get 10 RPM at screw we add a
reduction gear box of reduction = 150. This tremendously increases the
torque of the motor.
Speed control is of utmost importance to robust design so we need to
have a feedback sensor along with the ball-screw. This feedback is used by
the control system to adjust the speed of electrode
The speed of the electrode can be calculated using electrode diameter,
ingot diameter and mold speed
velectrode =

dinogt
delectrode

vi ngot

.
For 130 mm case vinogt = 4.79RP M . So we can use a similar motor to
drive the electrode with gear box of 30. The other electrodes are closer in
diameter to the ingot so their speed is less than 5RPM.
The extreme position of the moving platform must have a safety switch.
So we need to install safety switches at bottom of the mold. These stop the
machine in an event of overshoot.
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Figure 2: The design to electrode handling platform

Figure 3: The design to electrode handling platform

3.3.3

Electrode Handling

Electrode is a freely hanging rod of cast metal. There maybe inconsistencies

in shape that might require the electrode to be moved in x-y direction by a
small amount. We also need to hang the electrode. To do all these operations
we use a platform that has 4 hydraulic actuators mounted as shown in figure.
We use a frustum type of open cup to hang the electrode. The hydraulics
grips the electrode and also moves it around. This is incorporated into the
control system of the machine. This cup shaped design can be changed to
a larger size to handle larger ingots. This prevents the hassle of changing
platform for each electrode.

3.3.4

Slag Handling

A spout is created in the mold that can be opened to let the slag out. Slag
has often calcium fluoride which produces Hydrofluoric acid which is small in
amount but prolonged exposure can be dangerous. For sake of worker safety
the mold is covered from top and an exhaust pipe is added. Another hopper
is need to be present with mold to add new slag powder to the operation.
3.3.5

Ingot Handling

Using a moving mold as we are using makes the ingot handling much simpler. Upon completion mold can be moved above the ingot and ingot can be
extracted using a forklift.

3.4

Electrical systems

The major function of ESR is to melt metal using electrical arcing. For
this we want to have a low voltage so that we can have high current for the
same power. Current causes the heating of the electrode and melt rate is
dependent on the current supplied. The desired voltage is 40-50V, this is
determined by the slag composition, and ingot geometry. Current required
for melting can be estimated using the fact that melt energy is 1.2kW.h/kg.
This gives current as 60 A/kg. Overall we will need maximum of 50000A.
This current can be single phase AC or 3 phase AC. Single phase AC is more
suited to our application as we use a single electrode.
3.4.1

Motors

The motor is driven using DC. So we need a rectifier to convert AC(common

supply) to DC. The full bridge rectifier is the most energy efficient. This is
used to generate a constant DC voltage to run the motor. For a DC motor
speed can be controlled using armature current. Motor speed controller is
need for every motor. This speed controller maintains a desired speed based
on encoder feedback. The set point to this controller is provided using a
different control algorithm that is mentioned later.

3.4.2

Water Pumps

We need to use electrical pumps that have adjustable flow rates. Since different electrodes will have different dissipation heats. The flow rates can be
predetermined empirically and can be used at presets at various ingot sizes.
3.4.3

Controls

In the ESR system the electrode has to be maintained at a constant distance

to the ingot. This distance cant be measured directly and hence must be
indirectly measured, Since air has a large resistance and change is length of
arc will be reflected in current. If arc gets shorter then current decreases and
when arc gets longer current increases. A controller is required that adjusts
motor speed based on the current value in the melting circuit.
In steady state the changes in current will be small. So simple PID type
control can be used at this point. However at the beginning arcing has to
be done. For this electrode must be at a very short distance above the base
plate. In this situation a small change in length can cause large changes in
current. For this situation the system is highly non-linear. Non-linear control
algorithms will be needed if we want to automate this. Another option can
be to make the arcing manual. In that situation there has to be a seperate
control that can control electrode drive.
3.4.4

Wiring

DC motors, water pumps, encoders, control systems uses standard copper

wires for communication and conduction. The insulation must stand upto
200C.
3.4.5

High Current bars

We need to conduct a high current to the electrode. Normal wired cant

withstand currents beyond 50A. We use copper strips that stacked on top of
each other to form a flexible cable to attach to the electrode. The base plate
is connected using a solid copper bar.Insulation isnt required if the bars are
large enough. Since the voltage is low there is no risk of shock. Also if the
bar dimensions are chosen such that the surface temperature isnt too hot to
touch.

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3.4.6

Connectors

For normal wiring standard connectors can be used. For the hanging bus bar
and other bus bars we silver the surface of contact withe the connectors. High
contact resistances can cause contacts to break on high currents. Silvering
helps reduce the contact resistance.

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