Construction and initial testing of a LABORATORY SCALE ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE

Abstract: This work aims to describe the designing and construction of a 10 kg laboratory scale Electric Arc Furnace equipped with a system for measurement of electrical parameters. The EAF is used in a research project where the aim is to develop a new online measurement system for an optimized steel production with respect to a low energy consumption and resource efficiency. The laboratory scale is the first step in the project and will be followed by pilot testing and industrial testing, if the results are successful. In order to calculate how much energy that is fed into the system, the power and voltage were measured. To simplify the system at this initial stage with regard to energy and heat losses, the system is limited to treating pre-melted metal. This report provides some theoretical background for not only EAF´s, but also induction furnaces. This is due to that an induction furnace is used to melt the steel before the laboratory scale EAF is used. This report will give some advice based on the experience gained in this study. Furthermore, list important things to consider while working with this kind of equipment. Also, a system that manages to scale voltage and current signals to more easy handled magnitude is presented. The overall conclusion is that it was possible to construct an experimental setup, which can be used to perform on-line measurements from an electric arc furnace operated with steel and slag.