EAF Electric Arc Furnace

E.A.F. Melting scrap steel in New Zealand. The arc is about 3000°Celcius and scrap steel is melted in three charges to get around 40 tonnes of steel to be further processed in the ladle furnace.
The rods are from carbon and the arc current varies between 42,000 and 50,000 Ampères at around 300 Volts ac.

Sound is loud, wise to turn your volume down.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• EAF
• electric
• arc
• furnace
• melting
• steel
• 42
• 000
• Ampères
• scrap
• carbon
• rod
• electricity
• glowing
• red
• hot

[SnowDogRedSectorEh]

would this heat my rec room?

[RODALCO2007]

@SnowDogRedSectorEh Heat and melt it at the same time

[paulbagz1]

Awesome video, and good quality too. My Dad was an Arc Furnace operator at Glenbrook before they decommissioned it. I wish I'd had the oportunity to see it in action. He said the operators at Meremere [Power Station] used to be able to tell when they switched it on by looking at their instruments- not sure if he was serious but it sounds plausible!

[RODALCO2007]

@paulbagz1 Thanks for your comments.

Your Dad is correct. Arc furnaces use large quantities of power. Many tens of Megawatts.

Power generators will notice it on their Ammeters when furnaces are turned on.

[paulbagz1]

Did you record this at Pacific Steel?

[RODALCO2007]

@paulbagz1 Yes, about 2 ½ years ago.

[RODALCO2007]

@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.

[crazygenius12]

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

[demnlordd666]

that is bad ass!!! I want one, just not the monthly electricity bill

[TelevisionBritish]

I bet PhotonicInduction would have found a way to get it to run off a standard 13A plug socket :-p

[chemech]

@RODALCO2007 I thought that meltshop looked somewhat familiar. A former employer of mine did some consulting on the meltshop and furnaces evacuation some years back...

[TraumaER]

@strobx1 This is awesome IMO; i have been trying to look up info on this but it is just so beyond normal thinking haha; i want to know who thought of this idea lol

[strobx1]

@TraumaER It's like a HUGE arc welder. When the electrodes get near the steel scrap, an arc will be struck. I used to work at Michigan Steel & used to watch the furnace start.

[strobx1]

@paulbagz1 Yes it is plausible. 42,000 amps is the equivalent of a small city of 12,000 people!

[97skinnyboyswag]

i know the rods are carbon, but are they like graphite or what?

[ozboc]

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 !

[TraumaER]

How do they get it that hot? How does it start?

[sentinel76]

@UnivegaSuperSport When it's quiet.