The invention concerns a process for detecting water leaks in smelting furnaces (2; 4) or in metal or alloy treatment plants, comprising the following steps: (i) providing at least one smelting furnace (2; 4), or at least one metal or alloy treatment plant provided with a water cooling system (5) and being connected to a process fume exhaust system; (ii) mixing in the cooling water a tracer chemical which is volatile in the event of water leakage together with the exhaust gases and which is suitable to be detected by an analysis system of the exhaust gases; and (iii) detecting said tracer chemical contained in the exhaust gases by said analysis system comprised in said process fume exhaust plant, wherein said tracer chemical is deuterated water. The invention further refers to a Plant for the production of metals or alloys.

A cooling plate for a metallurgical furnace including a body with a front face and an opposite rear face, the body having at least one cooling channel therein having an opening in the rear face and a coolant feed pipe is connected to the rear face of the cooling panel and is in fluid communication with the cooling channel, where in use, the front face is turned towards a furnace interior, and at least one emergency cooling tube is arranged within the cooling channel, the emergency cooling tube having a cross-section smaller than a cross-section of the cooling channel, the emergency cooling tube has an end section with connection means for connecting an emergency feed pipe thereto, and in an emergency operation, the emergency cooling tube is physically connected to an emergency feed pipe via the connection means; while, in a normal operation, the connection means of the emergency cooling tube is physically disconnected from the emergency feed pipe. The invention also concerns the use of such a cooling plate.

A shaft furnace, in particular a blast furnace, includes a metal jacket defining the furnace outer wall and a protective layer protecting the inner surface of the outer wall. At least one condition monitoring probe is arranged inside within the protective layer to monitor the latter. The condition monitoring probe is connected to a wireless module arranged outside the outer wall to transmit condition monitoring data. The wireless module is located inside a casing mounted to the outer surface of the metal jacket. The condition monitoring probe includes one or more conductive loops positioned at predetermined depths below the front face of the cooling plate body, or of the refractory lining, so that wear of the body, resp. refractory, can be detected by a change of an electrical characteristic of the loop(s) due to abrasion.

A method for detecting an air flow distribution in a blast furnace, taking into account a heat exchange between an air flow and a solid material bed and the effect of a distribution of a material layer structure in a radial direction of a blast furnace on the radial air permeability of blast furnace, which affects a mode of air flow distribution, wherein the distribution of the air flow and the radial material layer structure of the blast furnace can be calculated by combining a cross-shaped temperature-measuring gun and other main blast furnace operating parameters. According to the detection method, a blast furnace operator can timely and accurately infer, from a change in a current radial air flow temperature distribution, the direction of change of the distribution of the air flow and the radial material layer structure at a furnace throat portion.

A cooling plate for a metallurgical furnace comprising a body (12) with a front face (18) and an opposite rear face (20), the body having at least one coolant channel (14) therein; the front face (18) being turned towards the furnace interior and preferably comprises alternating ribs (22) and grooves (24). The cooling plate includes wear detection means comprising: a plurality of closed pressure chambers (26, 28) distributed at different locations in said body, said pressure chambers being positioned at predetermined depths below the front face (18) of said body; and a pressure sensor (30) associated with each pressure chamber (26, 28) in order to detect a deviation from a reference pressure inside said pressure chamber when the latter becomes open due to wear out of said body.

A shaft furnace, in particular a blast furnace, includes a metal jacket defining the furnace outer wall and a protective layer protecting the inner surface of the outer wall. At least one condition monitoring probe is arranged inside within the protective layer to monitor the latter. The condition monitoring probe is connected to a wireless module arranged outside the outer wall to transmit condition monitoring data. The wireless module is located inside a casing mounted to the outer surface of the metal jacket. The condition monitoring probe includes one or more conductive loops positioned at predetermined depths below the front face of the cooling plate body, or of the refractory lining, so that wear of the body, resp. refractory, can be detected by a change of an electrical characteristic of the loop(s) due to abrasion.

The present disclosure relates to a method of detecting crack propagation in a wall of a metallurgical furnace by a detection unit. The detection unit is configured to extract one or more dominant frequency parameters from the corresponding reflected stress signal, and analysing, a phase from each dominant frequency parameters. The analysing of the phase comprises determines, one or more coefficients for each dominant frequency parameters. The detection unit then identifies, a dominant phase based on the corresponding one or more coefficients and selects a frequency relevant to a thickness parameter based on the dominant phase. The crack propagation in the wall of the metallurgical furnace is then detected based on the frequency relevant to the thickness parameter at each of the one or more locations. The present disclosure provides an accurate method for determining condition of refractory lining by elimination unwanted noise signals.

A shaft furnace, in particular a blast furnace, includes a metal jacket defining the furnace outer wall and a protective layer protecting the inner surface of the outer wall. At least one condition monitoring probe is arranged inside within the protective layer to monitor the latter. The condition monitoring probe is connected to a wireless module arranged outside the outer wall to transmit condition monitoring data. The wireless module is located inside a casing mounted to the outer surface of the metal jacket. The condition monitoring probe includes one or more conductive loops positioned at predetermined depths below the front face of the cooling plate body, or of the refractory lining, so that wear of the body, resp. refractory, can be detected by a change of an electrical characteristic of the loop(s) due to abrasion.

A cooling plate for a metallurgical furnace including a body with a front face and an opposite rear face, the body having at least one cooling channel therein having an opening in the rear face and a coolant feed pipe connected to the rear face of the cooling panel and is in fluid communication with the cooling channel where in use, the front face is turned towards a furnace interior, and at least one emergency cooling tube is arranged within the cooling channel, the emergency cooling tube having a cross-section smaller than a cross-section of the cooling channel, the emergency cooling tube has an end section with connection means for connecting an emergency feed pipe thereto, and in an emergency operation, the emergency cooling tube is physically connected to an emergency feed pipe via the connection means; while, in a normal operation, the connection means of the emergency cooling tube is physically disconnected from the emergency feed pipe. The invention also concerns the use of such a cooling plate.

The present disclosure relates to a method of detecting crack propagation in a wall of a metallurgical furnace by a detection unit. The detection unit is configured to extract one or more dominant frequency parameters from the corresponding reflected stress signal, and analysing, a phase from each dominant frequency parameters. The analysing of the phase comprises determines, one or more coefficients for each dominant frequency parameters. The detection unit then identifies, a dominant phase based on the corresponding one or more coefficients and selects a frequency relevant to a thickness parameter based on the dominant phase. The crack propagation in the wall of the metallurgical furnace is then detected based on the frequency relevant to the thickness parameter at each of the one or more locations. The present disclosure provides an accurate method for determining condition of refractory lining by elimination unwanted noise signals.