Mechanical waves generator system in a converter or pyrometallurgical furnace

Abstract

A system for generating mechanical waves for use in smelting and conversion processes that occur in furnaces and converters for a higher production of refined metals, consisting in a electrical signal generator, transducers that convert said electrical signals in mechanical waves placed on the outer end of air blowing tuyeres, a coupling means between said system and the shell of the converter, at least one resonant chamber that envelopes the air blowing tuyere and at least one transducer placed inside said resonant chamber, for applying mechanical waves that contain a great number of components of different amplitudes that travel with the airflow into the converter or pyrometallurgical furnace. The field of mechanical waves allows a higher efficiency in the oxygen reactions within the metal bath and slag, increasing the kinetics of chemical reactions, allowing a quicker homogenisation of the metal bath and reducing notoriously the copper trapped mechanically by the slag, all this leading to a higher production of metal.