The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 03, 1991
Filed:
Apr. 20, 1990
Michel G Drouet, St-Bruno, CA;
Hydro-Quebec, Montreal, CA;
Abstract
There is disclosed an arc reactor for treating a material in powder form conductive at very high temperatures, the reactor comprising a vertical electrically insulated sleeve cylindrical in shape, an upper electrode coaxially mounted with the sleeve at its upper end, a bottom electrode cooperating with the upper electrode, injectors for injecting a gas tangentially into the sleeve in order to create a vortex inside the same, a feed mechanism for introducing the powder material inside the sleeve near its upper end, so as to form a uniform cylindrical curtain of particles falling down into the sleeve, the particles being centrifugally projected against the internal wall of the sleeve by the vortex and entirely covering the internal wall while they are being simultaneously treated by the arc column, a crucible positioned under the sleeve to collect the treated particles in molten form that drip down from the sleeve, the molten material in use being in conductive contact with the bottom electrode, and a drive system to adjust a vertical position of the upper electrode, the upper electrode being slideable through the upper end and being made of a consumable electrode material. The upper electrode does not require water cooling and lasts for longer operation.