The 33rd Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IECON)

Nov. 5-8, 2007, Taipei, Taiwan

Effect of Electrode Regulation System on Arc

Parameters in Furnace Operation
Dr.W.Z.Gandhare D.D.Lulekar
Principal, Govt. College of Engineering, Lecturer in Electrical Engineering
Aurangabad (M.S.), India Govt. Polytechnic Khamgaon (M.S.) India
wz_gandhare@yahoo.co.in ddlulekar@yahoo.co.in

Abstract-The paper presents the investigations carried out for and arc length, which is determined by the position of the
determining arc parameters in the operation of electric arc electrodes. By examining the actual V-I characteristic of the
furnaces. Electric arc furnace is a non linear load causing random arc furnace, the arc melting process is divided into three
fluctuations in current. The measurements for quantities like arc periods [1]. The furnace measurements are carried out on two
parameters, power balance distribution in all phases; concept of furnaces and the analysis is carried out in detail. The arc
wild phase is illustrated. Power quality is affected by the erratic parameters and overall balance in current, voltage and power
operation of arc causing disturbances in plant operation.
Histograms provide the useful information about regulation are calculated.
system behavior. The refractory wear is a major issue in furnace
operation The arc voltage and power distribution has influence
on refractive index. The records on furnace measurement are I. THE ELECTRODE POSITION CONTROL
analyzed.
The electrode control system keeps the electrodes in each
Key words: Wild Phase, Refractory Symmetry, Impedance phase at the right distance from the scrap or melt, so that the
Hysteresis, Arc stability power of the arc is optimized for production and the requisite
I. INTRODUCTION metallurgical processes as well as for economical wall life.
Electrode control requirements for the melt-down period are
Widespread steel production by means of electric power has quite different from those for refining periods. The control of
been rising. Despite the advantages of arc furnaces as one electrode must not interfere with the other electrodes and
compared to blast furnaces, this type of load produces voltage must not cause any system stability. The electrode control
disturbances which can adversely affect other loads in the system must fulfill the following requirements.
electrical network. The arc furnace is a highly nonlinear load
which produces current harmonics. This current harmonics 1. Selected power must be kept constant during the
will give rise to high voltage harmonics depending on the meltdown period.
impedance of the electric network. When network resonance 2. Different up and down electrode speeds
conditions appear, the voltage harmonics became very high, 3. Maximum electrode up speed as soon as current rises
causing malfunction or damaging the electric equipment when scrap contacted to avoid tripping of circuit breaker.
connected to it. The electrodes are modeled as a series 4. Current interruptions should be avoided by using high
connected resistance and inductance. The electric arc is quality control system with good dynamic response. The
modeled as a nonlinear current-voltage characteristic which control system must behave differently when melting down
represents the voltage drop for a given arc scrap than when melt is liquid.
In any arc furnace, the arc length varies with the time, 5. The operating points i.e. the impedance values per phase
basically because of electrode movement and also because of must be selected automatically for each secondary voltage
movement of scrap. The arc melting process is a very step of the furnace transformer during operation.
complicated process. It converts the electrical energy into 6. manual control of electrodes
thermal energy. The electric arc is used to melt the raw
materials held by the furnace. The random movement of the Arc Voltage Control and Power distribution
melting material results in heavy current fluctuations during An arc is a gas discharge between two electrodes which are
the arc melting process. During the refining period, the scrap supplied by a voltage source. In an arc furnace the arc burns
metal is at a molten form and hence fluctuations are small. under atmospheric pressure between the end of the graphite
The furnace operation depends upon arc voltage, arc current electrode and the steel melt. The arc is sustained by an
alternating current. A voltage of at least 40 volt and a current

1-4244-0783-4/07/$20.00 C 2007 IEEE 921

of 4 kA are required to maintain ionization and produce the melt.. The proportions depend on the arc length and slag
heat of the arc. A typical arc is unstable and non-linear and its thickness.
current and voltage are in phase as they pass through zero.
This instability and non-linearity are greatest when melting II. EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT
down cold scrap. The delayed and erratic process of striking The simplified example of a single phase arc furnace with a
the arc and resulting gaps in the current are conspicuous. As bottom electrode is shown in figure 2. This case is identical to
melting down progresses, the striking becomes more stable, the symmetrical three phase unit. The transformer voltage Vph
but the current can still contain low frequency fluctuations. comprises the arc voltage, the voltage drop VR over the loss
The temperature and heat of an arc are high with a liquid steel resistance RR of the circuit, the induced voltage VI due to self
bath, and the thermal conduction is low, so that the arc inductance L.
characteristic begins to approach the linear behavior of an
ordinary resistance. The arc voltage is almost rectangular. The
rectangular arc voltage waveform is not entirely adopted by
the supply current since inductance in the circuit gives rise to
inductive reactance which increases with frequency and
therefore resists harmonics. Although the current waveform is
almost sinusoidal, the noticeable harmonic content causes an
increase in reactive power and with it a higher reactance [2].
The magnetic fields of the adjacent phases exert horizontal
electrodynamic forces on the arc, with the result that arc which
has virtually no inertia , is deflected sideways away from the
vertical, towards the furnace wall. The way the arc fluctuates is
especially is important during melting down. Large
movements of the arc roots on the electrodes cause
considerable unacceptable changes in voltage and current in Va
main supplies which have insufficient power and short circuit
capacity. Hydrodynamic forces can act upon the arc cathode Fig 2. Equivalent Circuit of Arc Furnace
(melt) even in the absence of an external magnetic field.
'Pinch effect'-necking of the arc on the cathode produces a Vph = VR + VL + VA
recoil force P on the cathode in the direction of the arc axis. Because the arc voltage is non-linear, the current also contains
harmonics. The apparent operational reactance is not constant
P= 1 0-7i2In rc/ rca N but depends on the harmonic content of the current. The
harmonic content of the current and the operational reactance
where rc= -mean radius of the arc column and rca= radius of both increase with rising arc voltage. Increased operational
the cathode hot spot. The arc displacement increases with the reactance can be observed mainly at the start of scrap melting
extent of the necking and square of the current. In this way the point when it reduces the power applied to the melt. Current
high current arcs produce a desirable stirring effect in the harmonics also increases current displacement effects in the
electrodes, so that loss resistance increases by several percent.
electrode convection- The equivalent circuit can be simplified by replacing the non
radiation-
linear arc by arc resistance RA. The operational reactance must
then be assumed to be 10-15% higher than the short circuit
Arc column reactance. The equivalent circuit of three phase arc furnace
Radiation Ra
consists of three phase with inductance, loss resistance and arc
Arc Plasma Radiation Rf voltage source connected in series meeting at a free star point.
The equivalent circuit of the three phase arc furnace can be
7% linearized.
Electrical symmetry is important in the operation of arc
3% furnace. If the resistances, reactances and conductor voltages
are balanced, then the furnace currents will be equal too. In
power calculations, we have to consider the reactances of
. -.- 1. transformer, conductor section, flexible cable, tubular
conductor and electrode. The reactances in all the phases must
be symmetrical for balanced arc furnace operation. The
Fig. 1. Typical Values of Energy Balance for an Arc maximum arc power occurs at a lower current than overall
maximum power. The radiation is greatest with long arcs.

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 In regular operation single controller, impedance regulation,
current regulation, constant control dynamics and degressive
control dynamics are the features. The control aspects include
guiding electrodes 1, 2, 3, mean current and minimum current.
Tap changer Characteristic number The auxiliary functions of electrode control are automatic
Position
Ui/U1N adjustment for manual operation, automatic calculation of final
amplification, plotting programs, software transient recorder
and visualization interface. A typical value for digital
electrode control response time is 17 msec. The A/D
conversion and smoothing may take 4 msec, and 1 msec
required for D/A conversion and so.
TABLE I
OPERATING PARAMETERS FOR ARC
Parameters December 2006 April
2003
Arc Power 26.83 28.01
Arc Voltage 231 227
Arc Resistance (milliohms) 5.96 5.52
Average arc lengths ( mm) 228 223
Electrical Efficiency of arc 92 91.3
Arc Stability Index 1.4 2.3
Arc radiatiiiiion intensity (MW- 2.0 .21
meter)
Arc radiation index 6.8 7.0

Table I shows the arc parameters for studied furnace. Arc

length is very important parameter. All parameters aim to
achieve optimization of arc power and better heat conditions
required for operation. That is why melting is preferably
carried out at a low power factor using short arcs [3].

The furnace current I = VL f'13 Z (1)

Total apparent power = S = AI3 VL I (2)
Reactive Power Q = 3 12 X (3)
Active Power = PR + PA (4)
Arc Power losses = PA = 3 I RA (5)

III. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

The performance of electric arc furnace is determined from

circle diagrams. The performance can be calculated provided
Manual commands
the electrical parameters like arc length, efficiency, refractive
Fig. 3. Digital Electrode Control index, etc are measured. For two furnaces the measurements
are carried out and the various graphs are plotted.
From table I, the arc stability index is higher than desired
Figure 3 shows block diagram of digital electrode control. value of 1.25. Electrode position is to be controlled
accordingly.
The various operation modes are as regular operation, manual
operation and programmed operation.

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 Arc voltage, Power distribution and the influence on voltage and tap number. For 1.25 index value, the operating
refractory symmetry current is decided and required tap can be used.

To determine the refractory wear the values of arc voltage (=

arc length) , arc power (= radiation intensity) are used. Of
course the optimum of refractory symmetry is equal values of
arc voltage and power in all three phases. In practice, equal
values of arc voltage and power in all three phases are not
found at the same currents. The relative refractory index is a
compromise and includes the influence of both value supply
Heavy wear of the refractory lining near the wild phase is
caused by excessive arc length. Changing the arc length in one
phase causes only minute changes in current, because the star
point is free. If the arc is shortened too much then another
phase can become wild. Refractory index is the product of arc
voltage and arc power given by Schwabe [3].
The refractory wear is not influenced by distribution of _____________________________ I
_________.__o___._,____-___-_____________r_______r_r_L____?_____

arc voltage and power also the factors like capacity of fume
extraction, direction of oxygen and carbon blowing, kind of Fig 4. Occurrence Variation with Impedance
scrap , direction of DRI feeding etc., geometry of furnace
vessel, alignment of electrodes. The following parameters are The value of impedance 7 to 7.5 is occurring 21 times for
calculated for each phase. Arc voltage in volt, arc power in individual phases as well as cumulative Similarly the
MW, relative refractory index in %, power factor magnitude 6.5 to 7.0 is also occurring 21 times as cumulative
value. This clearly shows the variation of impedance is 6.5 -
7.5 ohms. The working band of impedance is however 6 to 8.
The extreme values are 5 and 13.
Ei b i

LIII

I I

ii 1.
I I

=t
i i.
Ars S"blility Ind-le

......................................
ii J. .

A,,. st.,billtv iAdk

4.1

if. . . I I
Fig 3. Operating Current, Active Power and Tap Voltage as Function of Arc Fig.5. Impedance Variation with Operating Current
Stability Index
Impedance hysteresis is due to sluggishness response of
The arc stability index value is related to the electrode electrical and mechanical system. Impedance hysteresis is the
movement. If arc stability index is higher, there is localized deviation in actual impedance and calculated as difference in
heating and hunting decreases. If stability index is low, set impedance and actual measured impedance. Hysteresis
hunting is more and electrode movement is continuous rapid variance = (Impedance hysteresis/set impedance)*100. The
fluctuations. The desired refractive index is 1.25. The values upward tendency shows that actual currents are less than set
for arc furnaces 1 and 2 are 1.4 and 1.18 respectively in recent point.
measurements. The analysis provides the desired setting of tap

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 IV. CONCLUSION

1 Arc Resistance around 6 ohms for furnace is slightly less

than 7 which is desired value for conditions where input
consists of 50% Sponge iron.
2. Arc lengths are sufficient in existing slag level. In phase-
2 the arc lengths are normally lesser than other two being a
dead phase during arcing with both other phases. Same is the
case for arc stability.
3. A close operating band for Impedance leading precise
electrode control is observed.
4. Operating reactance for phase 2 may be set for
deviations by gain control. Thermal balancing can be done for
all phases by adjustment of current by electrode regulation.
5. Arc burns more stable when arc resistance is around 7
milliohms. A good foaming slag will be helpful in maintaining
covered arc thereby stable burning. This will also reduce
voltage flicker and refractory wear cuts. During longer arcs,
arc stability needs to be always considered. Flaring increases
when arc length is increased. For furnace the value of arc
resistance is 5.96. From above value, the arc seems to be
stable.
6. At preset tap voltage, increase in arc length will reduce
currents resulting in increase in operating power factor.
7. Increased arc lengths will reduce electrode consumption
and phase losses.
8. Increased arc length will increase arc flaring radiation
intensity affecting the life of intensity.
9. Arc stability will be reduced due to increased arc length;
arc power will be deteriorated causing overall disturbance

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We sincerely express our thanks to Nitin Ghodake, AGM of
Lloyd steel industries Ltd. Wardha for discussions and
support. We are grateful to the management and maintenance
personnel for kind assistance during the measurements.

REFERENCES
[1] CSharmeela, G.Uma, M.R.Mohan and K.Kartikeyan"Voltage Flicker
Analysis and Mitigation -Case study in AC Electric Arc Furnace using
PSCAD/EMTDC, "2004 International conference on power technology
-Powercon 2004,Singapore 21 -24 November, pp.707-71
[2] Klaus Timm, Hamburg, basic Principals of electric furnaces Edited by
E. Plockinger and 0. Etterich, John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, 1985, pp. 127-
160.
[3] G. Manchur, C.C. Erven, "Development of a model for predicting
flicker rom electric arc furnaces," IEEE Transactions Power delivery,
vol.7, no. 1, January 1992, pp.416-426.

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