I used to travel as a journeyman electrician and sometimes I would work on steel mill shut downs and turn arounds. I would always work on the EAF if I could. 40,000 amps at 600 volts supplied to the 30 ft long carbons by water cooled cables as thick as your leg. No matter what job I had, when the turn around was over, and they started the EAF back up I would be there to see it because there is nothing, man made, like it in the world. unreal power. 100,000 pound lid on the pot bounces around just like it was the lid on a pot on your stove top when water boils.
Thanks for the info & figures, as since a EAF came up in my feed 6 months ago & shocked the sh¡t out of me with how frighteningly impressive they are, I've watched plenty since & you're the first to fill me in on how much anps they suck etc! They'd probably use enough power in less than a minute, than what would run a house or small business for a year?! I wonder how on earth to the steel mills pay the electric bill?!
That is an impressive amount of current. In that case I would imagine that the transformer is setup very close by right? Otherwise the cables delivering power themselves would melt away. Makes me wonder what’s the source voltage on those transformers.
@@milind006 You are correct, the transformer is right by it, hooked up with giant water cooled busbars and cables in sets of 3 per each phase, usually the primary voltage to the transformer is around 33 kV or so at about 1500 amps. There are tap changers on the primary to get the fine power adjustments. The transformers are ridiculously big, and force cooled with oil to water heat exchangers.
I am currently working at SDI as a journeyman electrician. I see this kind of stuff every day. It is probably the most fascinating job site I have ever been on in 21 years in the trade. Steel mills are very dangerous, and you constantly have to be on alert!
I have seen these things in action here in Australia - the second they charge the carbon rods into the steel is something you will never forget - the sound , the vibration in the air - the violence of whats happening is indescribable - An experience i am happy i have had, watching the video does not even come close!! those carbon rods sure do get hammered , could not imagine the power bill !
@rvgrouik Power is taken from the 110kV grid, stepped down to 33kV. The furnace transformer runs at 33 kV at 600 to 800 Amps and steps it down to 300 V AC at about 50 kA for the electrodes. The electrodes are about 80 cm in diameter.
@@RODALCO2007 Love you so much for all the clips you've posted. Absolute treasures no one else has ever shared or shown. A lot of your videos are "cult classics", like one of *THE* wonders of the internet. I had to show a (zoomer) friend this arc furnace clip since he didn't know what goes into steel melting. Have you to thank I can show it.
The old man snuck me in as a kid to oregon steel, got to sit up in the control tower for the arc furnace, I will never forget it. Absolutely amazing! They had r&j sheet metal constantly replacing panels on the building do to the wet charges
Ah you are very lucky to experience that history. Where was/is Oregon steel? I pass by RJ sheet metal all the time, on 99? Clackamas has a lot of manufacturing. The Community College got a federal grant and built a huge Industrial Sciences bldg.
I had the chance to witness one of these beasts a few years ago. It was one of the most incredible experiences that I'l never forget. You can literally feel the ground shaking and it sounds like dynamite going off. It brings electrical energy to life BIG TIME> Shows you what electrical energy is capable of it the conditions are right.
I worked in JSW integrated steel plant in India and during our training/induction, we were taken on a tour to all the shops, i.e. Cold and hot mills, steel melting shops, RMS, etc. But when I witnessed the arc furnace start up, I quickly concluded that was the most incredible audio visual experience I've ever had. This video cant even describe the sound that I heard. It really makes you feel how much power electricity has(in my case it was operating on 33kVs)
I worked at IPSCO in Regina, SK when a large propane tank got into the scrap metal and accidentally dropped into the melting pot. When it exploded, it snapped all three electrodes right off. Damn scary. Amazing no one got hurt.
I used to work on a 155 Ton arc furnace at Corus Stocksbridge. This video brings back some great memories from that time and the people I worked with. Thanks for uploading this.
@@500Rufus And while we're on it... How is the remelt at Rotherham going??. Until the Stocksbridge men came down Rotherham was nothing better than Scunthorpe... Clog iron makers 😊😊. Good night.
It is arcing during the whole operation, as the arc creates the heat to melt the steel. The carbon rod initially touches the steel and gets pulled back a little to trigger the arc.
I love the hum too. as you said, for first timers it is an eye and ear opener allright. Also the vibrations, especially when striking the start arc when the rods go down, in the steel
Yes they have. Explosions are very common when wet scrap steel is dumped in at the second or third charge. Extra shutters are dropped in front of the control room double glazed view windows.
Man, I work in a steel forming factory, and my foreman was telling me to look this up. I'd like to see this in person one day. That's fucking insane how much power are in those electrodes. There's alot of blood sweat and tears that go into steel. One of those things I use to never even think about until I started making steel products.
Correct, They loaded the second charge of scrap steel and had problems closing the roof of the furnace, bits of iron sticking out. I work as electrcian-contractor on the high voltage side and do maintenance on the OCB's and power transformers
Those three white hot looking pole things with the liquid running down them are actually giant electrodes. The pump huge amounts of electricity through them and when they lower they create an arc with the bottom of the reactor vessel (IIRC) which has all the scrap material to be smelted. The sheer energy in it flash melts the scrap into sweet sweet molten steel.
Nothing like that, just direct short arcing across the secondary delta of the transformer. CT's sense the current drawn. When the arcs are struck a hydraulic lifting mechanism keeps the arcs at a constant lengths. When a good arc is struck the current settles at a steady level.
You are correct. The arc furnace does the raw melting of the scrap steel. The laydle furnace does the actual grading of the steel with the additives as mentioned by kwalters2583
They are being lowered to get the best arc to melt the steel. The electrodes last about 12 hours. New electrodes are screwed into the top of the used ones so a continuous electrode rod can be maintained and no electrodes are wasted.
The glowing part is very near or in the furnace crucible hence they are exposed top a lot of heat and glow. The electrodes are from carbon, when they run near the end a new electrode is screwed onto the old one so a continuous rod is obtained. Water flows over the electrodes and aids in cooling the clamps which grip the electrodes.
Good video. The EAF I work on charges 3 baskets of scrap, 165 - 170 tonnes in total into the funace which carries a liquid hot heel of approx 20-25 tones. We tap out 145 - 150 tonnes of molten steel every 44 - 46 mins. Bloody expensive thing to run...
i have a question. on a lot of arc furnace videos i've seen the power cables that supply the electrodes shake a lot. is that due to the magnetic fields they produce from carrying so much power or just the mechanical motions of the equipment?
I went to a local industrial museum where they showed us a (recreated) example of how Electric Arc Furnaces work, using a decommisioned furnace. The museum building used to have six furnaces. I said at the time that any building with six of these monsters, all operating, must be like a vision from hell :D.
The chiming sound is most likely the alarm for the overheard crane setting down the charge bucket. The liquid falling down the electrode is simply water to keep them cool.
Guillermo asked how they limit the current. As Rodal said, the arc rods are lifted in and out to keep as near constant current as possible, but when going into a load of raw scrap, short circuit currents are limited by the impedance of an over-winding or choke on the mains transformer. In my day, post WW2, the noise and fireworks were spectacularly enhanced by melting bomb and shell cases from which not all, or indeed, none of the explosive had been removed.
In the early 80s, I worked in a forge that made train wheels, CSW (Canadian Steel Wheel) in Montreal. There were two electric arc furnaces each producing 90 tons of molten steel. The two furnaces worked alternately to supply the forge's needs for steel ingots. The noise was insane despite our hearing protectors, but so was the spectacle offered by these mega machines. The forge's 7 hydraulic presses then took over to shape the reddened steel ingots into the shape of a train wheel. Imagine flattening a block of steel 2 feet in diameter by two feet high, just as easily as you would flatten a ball of ground beef into a hamburger patty. Finally, the forged wheel went through various machining steps to give it the required dimensions.
@chemech Hey, thanks a bunch for your EAF-related answers. It explained alot. Sounds like you either have in the past, or do now, work in a foundry with a EAF. The USA has exported way TOOOO much of its industry. Wow! Heavy! It must be pretty scary at first. But like other things, you become accustomed to it. But have to always be aware of the awesome power, and certain dangers associated with this line of work. Thanks again.
As a welder I can play around with something similar as seen in this video but in a drastically reduced scale with a 1/4" rod using approximately 300 amps. Lots of fun and noise though. It's called gauging and it's mostly used to remove welds and beveling.
I can't even begin to fathom how people figured out how to do this. I imagine it must be a really long series of trial and error steps from something really primitive to what we see here. It blows my mind.
Engineers go off of charts and calculate all of this including the materials needed. When you break it all down to maths and material science + scale its relatively straightforward.
@ramjetrabbit - The electric bill is on the order of 400 kWh/ton, and a typical EAF melts about 100 tons per heat, and about 24 heats per day when the economy is healthy - 10 to 16 if they shut down afternoons. Google on EAF Steelmaking for more info. The ladles are lined with firebrick or castable refractories - not quite as sophisticated as the space shuttle's tiles...
It's never a good idea to look into a "welding" arc anyway. You'll be blind straight away from this thing i guess. But it would be interesting if someone knots a gopro looking into the pot somewhere up there.
Judging from the sound and appearance (so, I could be completely wrong), the arc current doesn't seem exactly steady. At ~13 MW consumption, wouldn't the varying current cause a lot of trouble for the power system?
+rdekema If you'd read the description, you'd see this: "The rods are from carbon and the arc current varies between 42,000 and 50,000 Amps at around 300 Volts AC." So amperage variation is obviously, not a problem.
That is large conduit that leads to the "bag house", basically a big vacuum cleaner system that collect the dust for recycling. Without it, a lot of heavy metal laden smoke would be emitted in to the atmosphere.
@ramjetrabbit - The EAF is a relatively cheap and fast way to turn scrap metal into rebar or light structural steel. There is typically a 110 kV line from the power plant to the switchyard at the mill, where a step-down transformer takes it to 34 kV for local transmission. The biggest tie coming off the substation is the lead to the primary side of the EAF transformer, which steps the voltage back up so that an arc can be struck.
if you wanna see one ov these up close go to magna sheffield, theres other things earth wind water fire-tornado eletric rooms great day out!! just found it by mistake, the arc is not runin for ov reasons but they put on a show with fire and sound to give u an idea what it were like. and the place is MASSIVE and they left the place alone apart from walk ways so what you see below you are actul items they used and how it looked, dark dirty massive machines fun for all ages!!
I too am curious about that pipe like object at 2:28. I've seen that in other various EAF videos too. From the looks it's got something hot inside of it too. What exactly is that?
@lexichronicle2 Used to be a third hand on one of these at British Steel Grange town. 66,000 volts 22,000 going to each trode melting about a ton of steel a minuet. fearfully noisy bits of kit,I used to be a third hand on the C furnace was on the plant when the door cooler burst during an electrode change this blew the roof off the furnace and two men were seriously injured.My mother heard the explosion 5 miles away. This video is just as I remember it. Cheers Mick.
Direct Iron ore Reduction also can provide good "feed" and Australia is well positioned for that - we just need to turn around and turn the flood for that.
The rods are made by artificial graphite, graphite electrodes. The artificial graphite is made by coal, coke and pitch made to a plastic mass, then baked and graphitized in large furnance during weeks. There was a such factory in my town untill 1986 when they closed and move all production to Callais in France. Bloody Union Carbide! :@
Yes. About 45 megawatts there. Terrifying when that much power is released in such a small space. Arc furnaces are wonderful things, though. They produce a high quality product and can be run on renewable power: melt 40 tons of steel without burning fuel and generating CO2. Whoo hoo!
+RODALCO2007 How about the transformer used to supply the current to the electrodes? does it have some special fitur compare to ordinary MV/LV transformer? Thanks before,
i run a crane in my mill....im just curious how you change out the electrodes without the rings on the tops of them? do you have some kind of divice that grabs them to take them out and replace them?
I remember working along side of these bad boys back in my ironworker days during a scheduled maintainence shutdown and how loud there were. I recall a rookie steelworker charging one of the furnaces with wet steel and when they started to melt the steel a large fireball shot out and over the firewall I was standing behind. The heat was ridiculously intense and made my hardhat damn near melt. Good times I guess lol
@@RODALCO2007 What a shame... In Europe many steel plants are still operating - often purchased by bigger companies like Arcelor Mittal or Thyssen Krupp - but who knows what will be in the future.. Thank you so much, kind greetings!
+David Shaw: just water lol... That water evaporates before it ever reaches the metal in the furnace or else you'd see some even crazier explosions... Water & molten metal... yikes.
+Jen Downey Correct, the water evaporates well before it hits the metal. It becomes very explosive when a second charge of steel get dumped in which is wet.
@chemech of course if you can run 90 minutes or even less now with new tech tap to tap, one could run a good number of full charges through on an overnight 8 hr shift
Stupid question. How do they isolate or ground the furance so the the rest of the mill isn't energized? Also any chance of arcing and being hit by the bolt?
Meno Passini I’d imagine the vessel is one side of the circuit and the electrode is the other, and the scrap metal is the variable resistance in between.
Mr Smith Wouldn't have been in Illinois would it? When Northwestern ran at full crank it consumed the output of about 1/2 of one of the Nuclear Reactors at Byron IL.
I used to travel as a journeyman electrician and sometimes I would work on steel mill shut downs and turn arounds. I would always work on the EAF if I could. 40,000 amps at 600 volts supplied to the 30 ft long carbons by water cooled cables as thick as your leg. No matter what job I had, when the turn around was over, and they started the EAF back up I would be there to see it because there is nothing, man made, like it in the world. unreal power. 100,000 pound lid on the pot bounces around just like it was the lid on a pot on your stove top when water boils.
Thanks for the info & figures, as since a EAF came up in my feed 6 months ago & shocked the sh¡t out of me with how frighteningly impressive they are, I've watched plenty since & you're the first to fill me in on how much anps they suck etc! They'd probably use enough power in less than a minute, than what would run a house or small business for a year?! I wonder how on earth to the steel mills pay the electric bill?!
That is an impressive amount of current. In that case I would imagine that the transformer is setup very close by right? Otherwise the cables delivering power themselves would melt away.
Makes me wonder what’s the source voltage on those transformers.
@@milind006 You are correct, the transformer is right by it, hooked up with giant water cooled busbars and cables in sets of 3 per each phase, usually the primary voltage to the transformer is around 33 kV or so at about 1500 amps. There are tap changers on the primary to get the fine power adjustments. The transformers are ridiculously big, and force cooled with oil to water heat exchangers.
@@ionut5350 If I were to indulge you a bit more - what is on fire there? Is it just impurities?
@@milind006 yep, and also some additives will burn stuff off, polymers, oily mill scale, coke and such.
How do you tell when somethings gone terribly wrong when it ALWAYS sounds like something is going terribly wrong?
😁👍
Those who've heard it with their ears in real, they'll never be able to tell of their baby is crying. (Experienced it in Tata Steel)
@@md.aadilakhtar8823 Shit man, wish you all had good ear protection
Because it sounds even wronger? Especially with a broken electrode. Bzzzzz!
@@md.aadilakhtar8823 based
I am currently working at SDI as a journeyman electrician. I see this kind of stuff every day. It is probably the most fascinating job site I have ever been on in 21 years in the trade. Steel mills are very dangerous, and you constantly have to be on alert!
this is the overunity pulse plasma 2 stroke
How often do the rods need to be replaced?
I have seen these things in action here in Australia - the second they charge the carbon rods into the steel is something you will never forget - the sound , the vibration in the air - the violence of whats happening is indescribable - An experience i am happy i have had, watching the video does not even come close!! those carbon rods sure do get hammered , could not imagine the power bill !
@rvgrouik Power is taken from the 110kV grid, stepped down to 33kV.
The furnace transformer runs at 33 kV at 600 to 800 Amps and steps it down to 300 V AC at about 50 kA for the electrodes.
The electrodes are about 80 cm in diameter.
hi rodalco, how you doing from 13 years ago
@@dimitar4y Yup, all good, still around.
@@RODALCO2007 Love you so much for all the clips you've posted. Absolute treasures no one else has ever shared or shown. A lot of your videos are "cult classics", like one of *THE* wonders of the internet. I had to show a (zoomer) friend this arc furnace clip since he didn't know what goes into steel melting. Have you to thank I can show it.
The old man snuck me in as a kid to oregon steel, got to sit up in the control tower for the arc furnace, I will never forget it. Absolutely amazing!
They had r&j sheet metal constantly replacing panels on the building do to the wet charges
Ah you are very lucky to experience that history. Where was/is Oregon steel? I pass by RJ sheet metal all the time, on 99?
Clackamas has a lot of manufacturing. The Community College got a federal grant and built a huge Industrial Sciences bldg.
I had the chance to witness one of these beasts a few years ago. It was one of the most incredible experiences that I'l never forget. You can literally feel the ground shaking and it sounds like dynamite going off. It brings electrical energy to life BIG TIME> Shows you what electrical energy is capable of it the conditions are right.
Great description! Thanks!
Went looking if there are any in my country..
Brother doesn’t the electrode melt too
@@aphroditeson748 it is carbon and slowly will erode away but they are relatively cheap - it won't melt though
Agreed, the humming sound and the building almost shaking is a very powerfull experience.
I worked in JSW integrated steel plant in India and during our training/induction, we were taken on a tour to all the shops, i.e. Cold and hot mills, steel melting shops, RMS, etc. But when I witnessed the arc furnace start up, I quickly concluded that was the most incredible audio visual experience I've ever had. This video cant even describe the sound that I heard. It really makes you feel how much power electricity has(in my case it was operating on 33kVs)
Hola, me gustaría hablar contigo sobre tu traabajo
I love the sound of industry...
There's money to be made...
Bolbi Stragnavowski i agree, just sounds amazing
Bolbi Stragnavowski
Me too
Bolbi Stragnavowski that's such a great comment.
Fuck no that sound horrible
I worked at IPSCO in Regina, SK when a large propane tank got into the scrap metal and accidentally dropped into the melting pot. When it exploded, it snapped all three electrodes right off. Damn scary. Amazing no one got hurt.
I used to work on a 155 Ton arc furnace at Corus Stocksbridge.
This video brings back some great memories from that time and the people I worked with.
Thanks for uploading this.
@@500Rufus
You must be so proud.... Shame Rotherham couldn't make special steels or use a rolling mill....
@@500Rufus
Half of the Stocksbridge men are still there on the furnaces...... Tell me David.... How is the rolling going on at Rotherham???.
@@500Rufus
And while we're on it... How is the remelt at Rotherham going??.
Until the Stocksbridge men came down Rotherham was nothing better than Scunthorpe... Clog iron makers 😊😊.
Good night.
It is arcing during the whole operation, as the arc creates the heat to melt the steel.
The carbon rod initially touches the steel and gets pulled back a little to trigger the arc.
I worked maintaining direct arc furnaces and related machinery for 8 years and the noise is loud enough to make your whole body cavity resonate!
I love the hum too. as you said, for first timers it is an eye and ear opener allright.
Also the vibrations, especially when striking the start arc when the rods go down, in the steel
A sight to behold. A true thing of beauty! Wow, would love to experience it in person! Awesome!!!
I dunno why but the sound of electricity arcing like that kind of scares me, probably because I know the massive power there
Yeah I Agree
Had the same feeling
Just a stick welding electrode, stepped up say, about 1,000x in scale.
It's like thunder at first.
@@oron61 best sound. U want to hear
Yes they have. Explosions are very common when wet scrap steel is dumped in at the second or third charge.
Extra shutters are dropped in front of the control room double glazed view windows.
Man, I work in a steel forming factory, and my foreman was telling me to look this up. I'd like to see this in person one day. That's fucking insane how much power are in those electrodes. There's alot of blood sweat and tears that go into steel. One of those things I use to never even think about until I started making steel products.
Correct, They loaded the second charge of scrap steel and had problems closing the roof of the furnace, bits of iron sticking out.
I work as electrcian-contractor on the high voltage side and do maintenance on the OCB's and power transformers
Those three white hot looking pole things with the liquid running down them are actually giant electrodes. The pump huge amounts of electricity through them and when they lower they create an arc with the bottom of the reactor vessel (IIRC) which has all the scrap material to be smelted. The sheer energy in it flash melts the scrap into sweet sweet molten steel.
Mmm sweet sweet molten steel, I can just taste it now 😋
Nothing like that, just direct short arcing across the secondary delta of the transformer. CT's sense the current drawn. When the arcs are struck a hydraulic lifting mechanism keeps the arcs at a constant lengths. When a good arc is struck the current settles at a steady level.
You are correct. The arc furnace does the raw melting of the scrap steel. The laydle furnace does the actual grading of the steel with the additives as mentioned by kwalters2583
They are being lowered to get the best arc to melt the steel. The electrodes last about 12 hours.
New electrodes are screwed into the top of the used ones so a continuous electrode rod can be maintained and no electrodes are wasted.
The real technical hell; simply amazing; well done !
The glowing part is very near or in the furnace crucible hence they are exposed top a lot of heat and glow.
The electrodes are from carbon, when they run near the end a new electrode is screwed onto the old one so a continuous rod is obtained.
Water flows over the electrodes and aids in cooling the clamps which grip the electrodes.
I ran these furnaces for 3 years. People just cant imagine the sound!!!!!!!!
Good video. The EAF I work on charges 3 baskets of scrap, 165 - 170 tonnes in total into the funace which carries a liquid hot heel of approx 20-25 tones. We tap out 145 - 150 tonnes of molten steel every 44 - 46 mins. Bloody expensive thing to run...
The sound of Creation!!!
@PilotMikie That is water cooled exhaust pipe.
Thank you again - although 11 years later😃
@lexichronicle2 Cooling water, which flows to cool the power cables to the electrodes. It also cools the clamps holding the elctrodes.
i have a question. on a lot of arc furnace videos i've seen the power cables that supply the electrodes shake a lot. is that due to the magnetic fields they produce from carrying so much power or just the mechanical motions of the equipment?
Both, the magnetic fields are extremely strong. Also the carbon rods move up and down to maintain the correct arc distance.
cool thanks.
Rinoa Super-Genius Watch welding lead lines. They'll do the same thing.
more the 2nd than the 1st.
The cables probably also heat and coil thereby expanding and contracting causing movement.
What's the component at 2:31? Is that some outlet port or something?
Exhaust outlet.
I went to a local industrial museum where they showed us a (recreated) example of how Electric Arc Furnaces work, using a decommisioned furnace. The museum building used to have six furnaces. I said at the time that any building with six of these monsters, all operating, must be like a vision from hell :D.
The chiming sound is most likely the alarm for the overheard crane setting down the charge bucket. The liquid falling down the electrode is simply water to keep them cool.
Guillermo asked how they limit the current. As Rodal said, the arc rods are lifted in and out to keep as near constant current as possible, but when going into a load of raw scrap, short circuit currents are limited by the impedance of an over-winding or choke on the mains transformer.
In my day, post WW2, the noise and fireworks were spectacularly enhanced by melting bomb and shell cases from which not all, or indeed, none of the explosive had been removed.
Wouldn't an artillery shell blow up the ladle?
In the early 80s, I worked in a forge that made train wheels, CSW (Canadian Steel Wheel) in Montreal.
There were two electric arc furnaces each producing 90 tons of molten steel.
The two furnaces worked alternately to supply the forge's needs for steel ingots.
The noise was insane despite our hearing protectors, but so was the spectacle offered by these mega machines.
The forge's 7 hydraulic presses then took over to shape the reddened steel ingots into the shape of a train wheel.
Imagine flattening a block of steel 2 feet in diameter by two feet high, just as easily as you would flatten a ball of ground beef into a hamburger patty.
Finally, the forged wheel went through various machining steps to give it the required dimensions.
It is a fascinating process to see in real life. The sound is unbelieveable probably 140 dB + Thanks for your comment.
@chemech Hey, thanks a bunch for your EAF-related answers. It explained alot. Sounds like you either have in the past, or do now, work in a foundry with a EAF. The USA has exported way TOOOO much of its industry. Wow! Heavy! It must be pretty scary at first. But like other things, you become accustomed to it. But have to always be aware of the awesome power, and certain dangers associated with this line of work. Thanks again.
As a welder I can play around with something similar as seen in this video but in a drastically reduced scale with a 1/4" rod using approximately 300 amps. Lots of fun and noise though. It's called gauging and it's mostly used to remove welds and beveling.
Fascinating and terrifying at the same time
I can't even begin to fathom how people figured out how to do this. I imagine it must be a really long series of trial and error steps from something really primitive to what we see here. It blows my mind.
Engineers go off of charts and calculate all of this including the materials needed. When you break it all down to maths and material science + scale its relatively straightforward.
I would love to have a tour of this place.WOW!
@ramjetrabbit - The electric bill is on the order of 400 kWh/ton, and a typical EAF melts about 100 tons per heat, and about 24 heats per day when the economy is healthy - 10 to 16 if they shut down afternoons.
Google on EAF Steelmaking for more info.
The ladles are lined with firebrick or castable refractories - not quite as sophisticated as the space shuttle's tiles...
DC, love to know what sound that makes.
big river steel in arkansas uses a direct 500kv tie to power it, think about that
@Loeke77 That is the watercooled exhaustpipe
Wow, wonder what it's like in the chamber? Must be like Hell on Earth. I'd like to be able to see into the chamber while the furnace is charging.
It's never a good idea to look into a "welding" arc anyway. You'll be blind straight away from this thing i guess. But it would be interesting if someone knots a gopro looking into the pot somewhere up there.
ira todd Into an EAF?
ira todd Are you drunk by any chance?
That's good
The gopro would be vaporized in a second, and all you would really see is blinding white light.
Judging from the sound and appearance (so, I could be completely wrong), the arc current doesn't seem exactly steady. At ~13 MW consumption, wouldn't the varying current cause a lot of trouble for the power system?
+rdekema If you'd read the description, you'd see this:
"The rods are from carbon and the arc current varies between 42,000 and 50,000 Amps at around 300 Volts AC."
So amperage variation is obviously, not a problem.
Holy hell that's ferocious when those arcs first go.
That is large conduit that leads to the "bag house", basically a big vacuum cleaner system that collect the dust for recycling. Without it, a lot of heavy metal laden smoke would be emitted in to the atmosphere.
I worked 45yr, as a first helper at the electric furnace I love d it
@ramjetrabbit - The EAF is a relatively cheap and fast way to turn scrap metal into rebar or light structural steel.
There is typically a 110 kV line from the power plant to the switchyard at the mill, where a step-down transformer takes it to 34 kV for local transmission. The biggest tie coming off the substation is the lead to the primary side of the EAF transformer, which steps the voltage back up so that an arc can be struck.
I think that's an exhaust port which directs alot of the heat and energy out of the crucible.
@ozboc The electrodes can take a beating - breakage is quite common, esp. during "bore-down"
And, the graphite electrodes are *not* cheap...
if you wanna see one ov these up close go to magna sheffield, theres other things earth wind water fire-tornado eletric rooms great day out!! just found it by mistake, the arc is not runin for ov reasons but they put on a show with fire and sound to give u an idea what it were like. and the place is MASSIVE and they left the place alone apart from walk ways so what you see below you are actul items they used and how it looked, dark dirty massive machines fun for all ages!!
I too am curious about that pipe like object at 2:28. I've seen that in other various EAF videos too. From the looks it's got something hot inside of it too. What exactly is that?
@crazygenius12 That would have been the water exploding from the steel.
These furnaces are very loud indeed.
@lexichronicle2 Used to be a third hand on one of these at British Steel Grange town. 66,000 volts 22,000 going to each trode melting about a ton of steel a minuet. fearfully noisy bits of kit,I used to be a third hand on the C furnace was on the plant when the door cooler burst during an electrode change this blew the roof off the furnace and two men were seriously injured.My mother heard the explosion 5 miles away. This video is just as I remember it.
Cheers Mick.
How do the rods not melt into the iron?
They are made of carbon
@HugMyNutz Many mills now require double hearing protection for work around the EAF - ear muffs over ear plugs
Could you use this to boil water too? I hate waiting for water to boil to make pasta.
This thing seems just like a arc welder, except scaled up by a factor of maybe 100 million. The Devil's stick welder! :-)
12.6MW to 15MW of pure beauty.
you know your arc furnace is working, when it looks like its about to blow up.
Direct Iron ore Reduction also can provide good "feed" and Australia is well positioned for that - we just need to turn around and turn the flood for that.
I want to know how they made the electrodes.
@MrPetarmk Haven't got a video of that, I also don't work here anymore as I have another job now.
The electrodes are screwed into each other.
But could it melt the "One Ring"?
Wow! I wonder whats 😳 the temperature that gets up to? Respectfully asking.
1616 degrees Celcius for liquid steel.
I want one in my backyard!!!
a little less heavy of course;-)
this is an awesome way to smelt steel!
The rods are made by artificial graphite, graphite electrodes. The artificial graphite is made by coal, coke and pitch made to a plastic mass, then baked and graphitized in large furnance during weeks. There was a such factory in my town untill 1986 when they closed and move all production to Callais in France. Bloody Union Carbide! :@
Magnificent is the operation of electric arc furnace which I heard before.
Impressive indeed!
Wow, that's a lot of power right there. I assume the three rods mean it's three-phase AC running through them?
Yes. About 45 megawatts there. Terrifying when that much power is released in such a small space. Arc furnaces are wonderful things, though. They produce a high quality product and can be run on renewable power: melt 40 tons of steel without burning fuel and generating CO2. Whoo hoo!
How do these arc furnaces get their power? do they draw it from the grid or does the foundry have its own power station?
+Kim Stockton They draw their power from the grid at 110 kV. step it down to 33 kV and then to ± 500 Volts for the furnaces.
+RODALCO2007 How about the transformer used to supply the current to the electrodes? does it have some special fitur compare to ordinary MV/LV transformer?
Thanks before,
@campo4321 - the water-cooled shell of an EAF is typically made from Schedule 80 (Xtra Strong) stainless steel pipe
It sounds like the record for most firework rockets set off at once!
i run a crane in my mill....im just curious how you change out the electrodes without the rings on the tops of them? do you have some kind of divice that grabs them to take them out and replace them?
what is the thing in the left hand part of the screen at 1:30? the giant drum looking thing with ridges on it...
I remember working along side of these bad boys back in my ironworker days during a scheduled maintainence shutdown and how loud there were. I recall a rookie steelworker charging one of the furnaces with wet steel and when they started to melt the steel a large fireball shot out and over the firewall I was standing behind. The heat was ridiculously intense and made my hardhat damn near melt. Good times I guess lol
We have a long supply of graphite electrodes, which are essential for steelmaking in electric furnaces
What is the tinkling sound in the first few seconds before the rods go in?
Amazing footage, incredible to watch.
@adubulson This is a 40 MW furnace for scrap steel
What size is your furnace?
In SA they have these furnaces up to 500MW at 900 V dc
Hi 👋 beautiful memories thanks sounds better at 5-15 am Monday mornings
H
Oh, this is too COOL!!😍😍What a neat machine!
Its an extraction system, the pipe sucks most of the fumes/dust etc out of the furnace.
I want to know who the hell makes the electrodes?
Wooow, I watched this video 11 years ago, today thought about it again and here it comes!😃 As powerful as always!😁👍
The furnace is now a piece of history, plant shut down in favor of Chinese made products.
@@RODALCO2007 What a shame... In Europe many steel plants are still operating - often purchased by bigger companies like Arcelor Mittal or Thyssen Krupp - but who knows what will be in the future..
Thank you so much, kind greetings!
At 2:30 is that a fan taking sparks and gasses out?
Is this arcing during the whole operation, or just at the startup? Or asked differently: does electrodes immersed in the liquid iron?
see the cooling fluid running down the electrodes?
I wonder if it's just water...OR???
+David Shaw: just water lol... That water evaporates before it ever reaches the metal in the furnace or else you'd see some even crazier explosions... Water & molten metal... yikes.
+Jen Downey Correct, the water evaporates well before it hits the metal. It becomes very explosive when a second charge of steel get dumped in which is wet.
this video is very inspiring;-)
Crane Hook Photobomb! Always sneaking into EAF videos...
whats the chiming sound that's heard at the beginning and throughout the video?
At what temperature does graphite glow white...
@chemech of course if you can run 90 minutes or even less now with new tech tap to tap, one could run a good number of full charges through on an overnight 8 hr shift
Stupid question. How do they isolate or ground the furance so the the rest of the mill isn't energized? Also any chance of arcing and being hit by the bolt?
Meno Passini I’d imagine the vessel is one side of the circuit and the electrode is the other, and the scrap metal is the variable resistance in between.
Even the 1000 ton lid can't contain the hell that happens inside
imagine the electric bill
Very Sticky Welds i will be 1mile long
A friend of mine worked in a place with a huge arc furnace. Said they used more electricity than the city of Pittsburgh
Mr Smith Wouldn't have been in Illinois would it?
When Northwestern ran at full crank it consumed the output of about 1/2 of one of the Nuclear Reactors at Byron IL.
@@Hiei2k7 no this was in East Ohio.
Very Sticky Welds some industrial facilities have there own power plant, or some kind of power grid inverter thingy amping shit up.
There are a couple of these operating in Portland, ORE and they still have lights.
So like, do those huge electrodes get eaten up in the process? The energies involved are humbling, to say the least.