Improving Wear Assessment Method of Inductor Thermal Insulation of Channel Furnaces for Ultra-Pure Copper Melting

A relationship between changes in the complex resistance (impedance) of the channel furnace inductor for melting ultra-pure copper, changes in temperature at the surface of its housing and penetration rate of the melt was determined. A physical experiment to measure changes in impedance and maximum temperature on the inductor housing during long-term industrial furnace operation was conducted. The mathematical simulation of temperature distribution over the volume of thermal insulation of the inductor in the case of melt leakage into the thermal insulation was carried out. The simulation was performed by the finite element method in the Comsol software environment. The peculiarities of change in the impedance and surface temperature of the inductor depending on the penetration rate of the melt into its thermal insulation are revealed. On the basis of these peculiarities, an improvement of the method of estimation of the wear degree of thermal insulation of inductors of channel furnaces is proposed. It is in using additional control of changes in temperature distribution on the surface of their housing and carrying out mathematical modeling. Such method will allow to diagnose more precisely the condition of thermal insulation and to prevent in advance the emergency modes of furnace operation, connected with the leakage of molten metal.