Voest-alpine Aktiengesellschaft

Reinhard Buzzi

Heinz Muller

Gerhard Scheiblhofer

An auxiliary plasma arc fed by an auxiliary circuit serves for igniting a plasma arc, fed by a main circuit, of a plasma burner provided in a metallurgical furnace vessel. To increase the service lives of the burners, the electrode of the plasma burner and the melting stock charged in the furnace vessel are applied to the auxiliary circuit, with the main circuit switched off, and an auxiliary plasma arc is ignited between the plasma burner and the melting stock, whereupon the plasma burner is moved back from the melting stock, thereby lengthening the auxiliary plasma arc, and subsequently the main circuit is applied to the plasma burner and to the melting stock, and the plasma arc is ignited.

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Stainach, Austria

Reinhard Buzzi