Process of forming copper anodes

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process of forming copper anodes (6) in a casting wheel (I) from the stage in which the copper is in liquid molten state (5) in a dumping chute (3) and is transferred to a ladle (4) until the anode (6) of solid copper is transformed into an anode (6) and is discharged from a mold (2) located in said casting wheel (I) wherein said process prevents the liquid molten copper (5) from being adhered to the edge of the ladle (4) and in the interstice (14) generated between the surfaces of the ejector rod (13) and the passing through bore (12) located on the mold (2) comprising the stages of: pouring the molten liquid copper from a distributing dumping chute (3) towards a ladle (4); (b) connecting the metallic components of the ladle (4) to the ground in order to produce positive charge (17); (c) spraying towards the edge (lip) of the ladle (4) an air jet (19) with dry dusting release agent (20) which is expelled by a nozzle (21) charging the particles of said dry dusting (20) with high voltage and negative charge the particles of said dry dusting release agent (20) with high voltage and negative charge (18); (f) pouring the molten liquid copper (5) from the ladle (4) towards the cavity (II) of a mold (2) of anodes; (g) waiting until the copper gets cold in order to form the anode (6) by means of the turn of the casting wheel (I); (h) driving the ejector rod (13) to expel the anode (6) from the cavity (II) of the mold (2); and (i) removing the anode (6) from the mold (2) by means of cranes. The nozzle (21) is moved over the ladle zone (4) and mold zone (2) by means of a robotic arm (22) which is mounted on a cart (24) suspended above the casting wheel (I).(18); (b) connecting the metallic components of the mold (2) to the ground in order to produce a positive charge (17); (e) spraying towards the cavity (II) of the mold (2) and towards the location zone of the ejector rod (13) dry dusting release agent (20) through an air jet (19) which passes through a nozzle (21) which charges the particles of said dry dusting release agent (20) with high voltage and negative charge (18); (f) pouring the molten liquid copper (5) from the ladle (4) towards the cavity (II) of a mold (2) of anodes; (g) waiting until the copper gets cold in order to form the anode (6) by means of the turn of the casting wheel (I); (h) driving the ejector rod (13) to expel the anode (6) from the cavity (II) of the mold (2); and (i) removing the anode (6) from the mold (2) by means of cranes. The nozzle (21) is moved over the ladle zone (4) and mold zone (2) by means of a robotic arm (22) which is mounted on a cart (24) suspended above the casting wheel (I).

Claims

1. A process of forming copper anodes (6) in a casting wheel (1) from the stage in which the copper is in liquid molten state (5) in a dumping chute (3) and is transferred to a ladle (4) until the molten copper is transformed into an anode (6) and is discharged from a mould (2) located in said casting wheel (1) characterized in that said process prevents the liquid molten copper (5) from being adhered to an edge of the ladle (4) and in an interstice (14) generated between the surfaces of an ejector rod (13) and a passing through bore (12) located on the mould (2), the process comprising the stages of: (a) pouring the molten liquid copper from the distributing dumping chute (3) towards the ladle (4); (b) connecting metallic components of the ladle (4) to a ground in order to produce a positive charge (17); (c) spraying towards the edge of the ladle (4) an air jet (19) with dry dusting release agent (20) which is expelled by a nozzle (21) charging particles of said dry dusting release agent (20) with high voltage and negative charge (18); (d) connecting metallic components of the mould (2) to the ground in order to produce a positive charge (17); (e) spraying towards the cavity (11) of the mould (2) and towards a location zone of the ejector rod (13) the dry dusting release agent (20) through the air jet (19) which passes through the nozzle (21) which charges the particles of said dry dusting release agent (20) with high voltage and negative charge (18); (f) pouring the molten liquid copper (5) from the ladle (4) into the cavity (11) of an anode mould (2); (g) waiting until the copper gets cold in order to form the anode (6) by means of a turn of the casting wheel (1); (h) driving the ejector rod (13) to expel the anode (6) from the cavity (11) of the mould (2); and (i) removing the anode (6) from the mould (2) by means of cranes.

2. A process of forming anodes (6) according to claim 1 characterized in that said nozzle (21) is moved over the ladle zone (4) by means of a robotic arm (22) which is mounted on a cart (24) suspended above the casting wheel (1).

3. A process of forming anodes (6) according to claim 1 characterized in that said nozzle (21) is moved over the mould zone (2) by means of a robotic arm (22) which is mounted on a cart (24) suspended above the casting wheel (1).

4. A process of forming anodes (6) according to claim 1 characterized in that said nozzle (21) is moved by means of a manual tool remotely operated by an operator (7).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) The accompanying drawings are included in order to provide a better understanding of the previous art and to show the details of the present invention.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the casting wheel where the ladles are pouring molten liquid copper on the moulds.

(3) FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the casting wheel wherein the operator is spraying the dusting release agent towards the edge (lip) of the ladle.

(4) FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of an anode mould.

(5) FIG. 4 shows a perspective view, in half cut, of a mould for anodes showing the detail of the ejector rod.

(6) FIG. 5 shows a view, in front cut, of a mould for anodes showing the detail of the ejector rod.

(7) FIG. 6 shows a view, in front cut, of a mould for anodes showing the detail of the ejector rod wherein the water with the release agent is being poured.

(8) FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of two moulds with anodes molten therein.

(9) FIG. 8 shows a frontal cut view wherein the concept of the present invention is explained.

(10) FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of the casting wheel wherein a robot spraying the dry dusting release agent towards the edge (lip) of the ladle is illustrated.

(11) FIG. 10 shows a perspective view of the casting wheel wherein a robot spraying the dry dusting release agent on the mould for anodes.

(12) FIG. 11 shows a perspective view of the casting wheel wherein an operator spraying the dry dusting release agent on the mould for anodes using a manual tool is illustrated.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(13) FIG. 1 shows a casting wheel (1) on which a plurality of anodes (2) are installed. Adjacent and towards the exterior of said casting wheel (1) there is a distributing dumping chute (3) which has two outlets feeding the molten liquid copper (5) to the ladles (4).

(14) The ladles (4) once they are full with a determined quantity of molten liquid copper pour their content into the moulds (2) until they are filled and the anode is formed (6).

(15) In order to prevent the molten liquid copper (5) from being adhered to the edge (lip) of the ladle (4), an operator (7) manually pours the dusting release agent being stored in a container (8).

(16) It should be noted how dangerous results the position of the operator (7) when being so close to the ladles (4) and casting wheel (1). However, without this dusting release agent, the molten liquid copper flow will be interrupted, considering that this tends to get stuck on the edge (lip) of the ladle (4). Due to the aforementioned, it is necessary to perform this dangerous maneuver showed on FIG. 2.

(17) On the other hand, once the cavity (11) of the mould (2) is full, the casting wheel continues its circular path, with which the molten liquid copper (5) gets cold and forms the anode (6) in solid state having a body (9) and lugs (10).

(18) In order to discharge the anode (6) from the mould (2) a passing-through bore (12) is provided in which interior is housed an ejector rod (13) thus generating between the outer walls of the passing-through bore (12) and the ejector rod (13) an interstice (14) which provides for an enough clearance for the ejector rod (13) to be moved by a drive mechanism (not shown) located below the mould.

(19) When the drive mechanism (not shown) acts on the ejector rod (13) there is a high probability that this gets adhered inside the passing through bore (12) considering that the molten liquid copper (5) could fall inside the interstice (14) with which the ejector rod (13) cannot be lifted and therefore no detachment of the anode (6) from the mould (2) occurs.

(20) Due to this reason, an operator (7) must throw towards the mould (2) when this is downstream of the distributing dumping chute (3) with the ladles (15) a suspension with water and release powder so as said agent is evenly sprayed on the cavity (11) and on the interstice (14).

(21) When the suspension (15) is poured on the mould (2), due to the heat, the water generates a steam cloud (16) with which the release agent gets attached to the walls of the mould (2). In this case, the operator (7) is also exposed to a risk since be is too close to the casting wheel (1) and also because the water on the mould (2) can generate explosions.

(22) For that reason and in order to solve those problems, the present invention proposes spraying in two areas (A, B) of the process of forming an anode (6) particles of dry dusting release agent.

(23) These two areas are the edge zone of the ladle (4) or zone A and on the other hand, the cavity (11) of the mould (2) or zone B.

(24) As shown in FIG. (8), the dry dusting release agent (20) is sprayed through an air jet (19) which passes through a nozzle (21) which charges the particles with high voltage and negative charge (18). In turn, the metallic pieces comprising the ladles (4) and the mould (2) are connected to the ground, thus generating a positive charge (17) with which the sprayed particles are attracted and attached to the metallic surfaces of the ladles (4) and mould (2) due to the difference of charge.

(25) As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the air jet (19) with the dry dusting release agent through a nozzle (21) can be applied on zones A, B by means of a robotic arm (22) which is installed on a cart (24) suspended above the casting wheel (1).

(26) Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 11, the air jet (19) with the dry dusting release agent through the nozzle (21) can be applied on zones A, B, by means of a manual tool (23) remotely operated by an operator (7).

(27) According to the aforementioned, the present invention relates particularly to a process of forming copper anodes (6) from the stage in where the copper is in molten liquid state (5) and is transferred to a ladle (4) until the solid copper anode, transformed into an anode (6) is ejected from a mould (2) wherein said process comprises: pouring molten liquid copper from a distributing dumping chute (3) towards a ladle (4); (b) connecting the metallic components of the ladle (4) to the ground in order to produce a positive charge (17); (c) spraying towards the edge (lip) of the ladle (4) an air jet (19) with dry dusting release agent (20) which is expelled by a nozzle (21) charging the particles of said dry dusting (20) with high voltage and negative charge (18); (b) connecting the metallic components of the mould (2) to the ground in order to produce a positive charge (17); (e) spraying towards the cavity (11) of the mould (2) and toward the location zone of the ejector rod (13) dry dusting release agent (20) through an air jet (19) passing through a nozzle (21) which charges the particles of said dry dusting release agent (20) with high voltage and negative charge (18); (f) pouring molten liquid copper (5) from the ladle (4) into a mould (2) of anodes; (g) waiting until the copper gets cold in order to form the anode (6) by means of the turn of the casting wheel (1); (h) driving the ejector rod (13) to expel the anode (6) from the cavity (11) of the mould (2); (i) removing the anode (6) from the mould (2) by means of cranes (not shown).